The Game of Risk
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: Andy and Sharon are finally going to get to see Emily perform in LA, but will their joyous occasion be faltered by a series of murders? Is there a serial killer on the loose or is someone playing a game with Lieutenant Flynn. This follows my story "A Parent's Prerogative".
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Here is the next story following "A Parent's Prerogative". Hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 1

It was a Monday morning as Ricky D'Angelo sat in the courtroom, handcuffed, listening to the Assistant US Attorney speak about the charges against him. He glanced around the room. He looked at the jurors and then at the judge. The Federal courtroom that he was currently sitting in was huge. Marble and wood were everywhere in the courtroom. He was barely listening to the Assistant US Attorney when he turned around and made eye contact with another person in the open seats. He slightly nodded to them. He then turned around and continued to listen as his lawyer had tapped him on his shoulder. The Assistant US Attorney was then finished with his opening argument. The judge then moved forward to hear the opening argument from D'Angelo's lawyer.

Three blocks away from the Federal District Court, Sharon was sitting in her office enjoying a quiet moment alone. Things had been busy at their house over the weekend since Emily had flown in from New York with her ballet company. She had been over at the house Saturday all day and then finally Andy had driven her back to hotel Saturday night. Sharon had insisted on Emily staying with them while she was in town but Emily argued that the ballet company was paying for her hotel room so she might as well use it. Sharon and Andy had told their kids on Sunday that they were going to adopt Matthew. Everyone was happy for them and welcomed Matthew officially to their family. They went over to Nicole and Dean's house for dinner last night, and that's when they told them. After dinner, Andy was playing in the backyard with Matthew and his step-grandsons. They were playing whiffle ball and Andy was the designated pitcher. Sharon, Emily, and Nicole were sitting on the back deck enjoying their view. Dean started a fire in the fire pit and once it was fully lit, the women moved closer to keep warm. Sharon clapped her hands when Matthew hit the whiffle ball over Andy's head. He was running around the makeshift bases. Andy's step-grandsons decided that instead of chasing the ball, they would jump on top of Andy and bring him down to the ground. She laughed, remembering that as she sat in her office.

Andy and Provenza returned along with the rest of the team from a call out that they thought would be their case. Turned out that the homicide, as it was ruled, did not have any links to another case so they gladly had Robbery/Homicide take the case and headed back to the office. Andy knocked on Sharon's door. "Come in" she said and smiled as Andy entered her office. "Ah, Captain, the call out was a bust. Robbery/Homicide is going to take it as it doesn't seem connected to the other case" Andy explained to her as he sat down. He looked at her and she looked different. "What's got you so happy?" Andy asked her. "Hmm, nothing. Emily is in town performing, which we are going to see in a couple of days, we had a lovely evening last night at Nicole's, and we are adopting Matthew" Sharon said to Andy as she sighed and smiled. Andy shook his head as he got up from the chair and walked around her desk. He leaned his head down to her and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek. "Love looks good on you" he whispered to her and then turned around and walked back to his desk.

The rest of the day went by slowly. There was no case and Sharon dismissed her team early in the afternoon. "Go home and enjoy this before another case gets thrown at us" she said to her team as she walked back in to her office. The team was happy that they didn't have to stay there any longer than usual and all left promptly. "Hey Flynn, Patrice is going out tonight with her friends, do you want to do something?" Provenza asked him. Andy looked at him and then back at Sharon who was sitting in her office. "Uh, sorry but we planned on taking Matthew out for dinner, you know, to kind of celebrate" Andy said to Provenza. "Oh, okay, no problem. See you tomorrow" Provenza said as he left. Sharon had called up St. Anne's to let them know that Matthew would be picked up on time and not attending the after school care program.

Sharon was ready twenty minutes later and they both walked out of the Murder Room. She had told Chief Howard that she was letting her team leave early and he had no problem with it. She had texted Emily earlier and knew that she had rehearsals until 5 but she asked her if she wanted to go out to dinner with them and Matthew. As they were leaving in the car and heading over to Matthew's school, Emily texted Sharon back. 'Sure. I'll be done at 5. Pick me up at hotel?' it said and Sharon replied to it. As Sharon and Andy pulled up to the school, the parking lot was packed with cars and buses. They got out of the car and joined all the other parents waiting outside to pick up their children once school let out at 3:30. The doors to the school opened and children started walking out to their parents. Sharon and Andy waited by the door until they saw Matthew walk out. "Hey Matthew!" Andy said as he came up to them. "What are you guys doing here?" Matthew asked them. "Oh, well we got out of work early and decided to come pick you up on time today" Sharon said to him as they walked back towards the car. "How was school?" Andy asked him as he got in to the car. "It was okay. We have a test tomorrow in science" Matthew said to him.

Andy and Sharon both turned around in their seats in the car to face Matthew. "We were wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight, Emily and Rusty are coming with and you can even pick the place" Sharon said to him. "Can we go out for pizza?!" Matthew asked them. "Sure, I know a great place we can go to" Andy said to them and then turned around in his seat. He then drove them over to pick Moxie up. He and Sharon figured that if they picked up Moxie, they would have enough time to go home and everyone could change before they left to pick Emily up for dinner. After picking up Moxie, they headed home. Sharon received a text from Rusty saying that he would meet them at the restaurant, just to let him know which one they were going to. Matthew and Moxie played in the backyard while Andy and Sharon watched them from the back porch. Sharon snuggled in to Andy's side as they sat there watching Matthew chase Moxie around and vice versa. Moxie tackled Matthew and jumped on top of him. Sharon got up when she saw that and wanted to rush over to him but Matthew was laughing as he sat up and petted Moxie. Moxie licked his face and then Matthew stood up. "Sharon, it's okay" Andy said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back down to him.

After they all changed their clothes and got themselves ready, they left to pick up Emily at her hotel room that she was staying at. The ballet company placed all of the dancers at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, just steps from where they were performing at the Dolby Theater. Traffic was typical heading down Hollywood Boulevard. Sharon had texted Emily that they were on their way over to her. She had texted back saying that she was ready and outside waiting for them. Andy pulled up to the hotel about twenty minutes later and Emily jumped in. "Hi everyone" Emily said to them as they pulled out and headed towards the restaurant. "Hello, dear" Sharon said to her as she got in the back seat. "How was rehearsal?" she added. "Oh, it was fine, Mom" Emily answered as she looked out the window. "I forgot how bad traffic is in LA!" Emily said as they crawled down the street. Traffic was barely moving but they made it to their destination, Miceli's Restaurant.

They entered the restaurant and got seated right away. The waitress came over to them and took their order. Andy had gotten up from the table, excusing himself saying he had to use the bathroom. He made his way towards the front of the restaurant and stopped to speak with their waitress. "Excuse me, my family and I are celebrating adopting the little boy who's with us and I was wondering if you could bring us some sort of dessert to share after we are done with our pizza. I want it to be a surprise" Andy explained to the waitress as he looked over at their table. "Sure, sir. We can do that" the waitress said to him and then Andy made his way back to the table. Sharon gave him a look as he sat down and grabbed his hand to hold it. Matthew was coloring the kids menu and Sharon was playing the dots game with him. Emily was explaining how the rehearsal was going. "Rusty, how was your day?" Sharon asked him. "Oh, well funny thing happened while I was in class. My professor in my communications class announced an internship opportunity and he stated that it would be perfect for me to apply for" Rusty started to say to everyone. "Oh, that's great. What kind of internship?" Sharon asked him. Rusty looked at her and Andy. "It's with the Deputy District Attorney's office in Downtown" Rusty said. Andy took a sip of water when Rusty was explaining this and nearly choked on it. "What?" Sharon said to Rusty as she looked at Andy. "Are you okay?" she whispered to Andy and he nodded. She turned her attention back to Rusty. "Yes, I'm going to be interning with DDA Hobbs" Rusty said to them. Sharon was shocked when Rusty said that because she had spoken to Andrea earlier in the day and she failed to mention any internship with Rusty. "That's great Rusty" Andy said to him and their food came to the table.

After everyone enjoyed the pizza, the waitress removed the pizza pan and a minute later, the staff of the restaurant came out singing in Italian, holding a big piece of chocolate cake, with a candle on top of it. Sharon looked over at Andy as they placed the dessert down in front of Matthew. Andy just shrugged his shoulders. Matthew's eyes went wide as he saw how big the piece of cake was. "Uh Matthew, we are sharing that piece with you" Sharon said to him as Matthew was smiling. Everyone had a piece of the chocolate cake and then Andy paid the bill. Emily protested and wanted to pay it. "It's our treat" Andy simply said as he handed his credit card over to their waitress. It was still early when they left the restaurant. "I can give Emily a ride back to her hotel. I know Matthew has a test tomorrow and you probably want him home as quick as possible to study" Rusty said to Sharon as Andy went to get the car. Sharon was standing there holding Matthew's hand as they waited. "Are you sure?" Sharon said. "Positive Mom" Rusty said and then gave Sharon a hug. "We'll talk later about your internship" Sharon said as she pulled away from the hug. Emily hugged her mom and the two of them left. Andy pulled up with the car and both Sharon and Matthew got in. "Where's the rest of them?" Andy asked. "Rusty is driving Emily back to the hotel" Sharon said. Andy then drove them home.

When they got back home, Matthew wanted to watch TV and made his way with Moxie to the family room. "Uh, no Matthew, you need to study for your science test!" Sharon called out to him. Matthew stopped half way and pouted. "Come on, come back in the kitchen and I'll help you" Sharon said to him as he slowly made his way back and had a seat at the kitchen table. Andy's phone rang. He looked at the caller id and saw it was Provenza and answered it. "Did we catch a case?" Andy asked him. "No, I'm bored here at home so I thought I would call you and see how dinner was" Provenza said to him as he was sitting in his recliner. "Oh, it was fine. We went to Miceli's for pizza. Hey did you know Rusty is going to be interning at DDA Hobbs's office?" Andy said to him. "What! Why on Earth would he want to do that?" Provenza said into the phone. Andy shrugged his shoulders, not that Provenza could see him. "I don't know, he dropped that on us at the restaurant tonight" Andy said as he made his way towards the den and sat down there.

Matthew got up from the table about one hour later after studying for the test. "Thank you for helping me" Matthew said to Sharon as he placed his books in his backpack. "Oh you're welcome, sweetie" Sharon said as she stood up. "Now it's time to get ready for bed" she added as she walked over to the sink to put their glasses away. "But, I wanted to watch TV" Matthew said to her. "It's bed time Matthew" Sharon said to him as she glanced at the clock as it was already 9:30. Matthew huffed as he walked past Moxie who was laying on his bed in the kitchen. He was stomping his way through the hallway and Andy heard him coming. As he past the den up, Andy stood up and went over to him. "Hey, what's all the stomping for?" Andy asked Matthew. Matthew turned around. "I really wanted to watch TV but Mom said that I have to get ready for bed now" Matthew said to Andy as he pouted. Andy glanced at his watch. "Sorry, buddy but it's time for bed" Andy said to Matthew and he didn't like that response. Matthew turned around and huffed as he was going up the stairs. Andy shook his head as he made his way towards the kitchen. "We have a not so happy camper on our hands" he said to Sharon as he came up to her and pulled her into his arms. He then started to play 'Unforgettable' on his phone and swayed with Sharon. "What are you doing?" she said laughing and smiling at him. "I miss dancing with you. We haven't danced to this song in a while, Sharon" he whispered in her ear as he pulled her closer to him. They danced around the kitchen for about five minutes, Sharon reveling in the feeling of Andy holding her. "I should go check on Matthew upstairs, make sure he is getting ready for bed" Sharon said and then pulled Andy in for a kiss. He reluctantly let her go and then he took Moxie outside.

Sharon went upstairs to check on Matthew and was surprised to see him all ready for bed. She tucked him in his bed. "Can you read me a story?" Matthew asked her. "Sure" Sharon said and then sat down on the edge of his bed and began to read him a story. Within five minutes of Sharon reading Matthew a story, Matthew was sleeping. Sharon slowly got up and kissed Matthew good night on his head and then left his room. Moxie came upstairs with Andy and after Moxie went in Matthew's room, Sharon closed the door. "He was out as soon as I started reading him a story" Sharon said to Andy as they made their way to their bedroom, closing the door behind them. Andy pulled Sharon in against his chest and started to kiss Sharon from her ear down to her collar bone. Sharon gently pulled his head back up to meet her eyes and leaned in to kiss him on his lips. She broke apart, needing to catch her breath. "Where did you really go at the restaurant when you got up to use the restroom?" Sharon asked as she walked away from Andy and headed in to their closet to change her clothes. "I went to speak with the waitress because I wanted the dessert to be a surprise" Andy said to her as he took off his watch and badge and laid them on the dresser. He then made his way to the closet as Sharon was done changing in to her nightgown. He placed his gun in the safe in the closet and changed his clothes as well. Once they were all set for the night, Andy maneuvered Sharon over to their bed as he kissed her and they fell on to it, kissing and never letting go of each other.

Meanwhile, at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Ricky D'Angelo sat in his jail cell staring at the wall. He was in the cell by himself, in solitary confinement per the judge's orders. One of the guards walked by his cell and stopped. "Are you behaving yourself?" he said to D'Angelo. "Yes sir" D'Angelo answered and the guard kept walking. D'Angelo then laid back down on his cot and waited for morning to come.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 2

Thursday came and the Major Crimes division still hadn't caught a case. Andy was grateful for that because tonight he was taking Sharon to opening night of Emily's performance at the Dolby Theater. They were planning on leaving the office early enough to pick up Matthew and Moxie, then head home so they could get themselves ready. Nicole and Dean had agreed to watch Matthew for them tonight. Andy sat at his desk making sure everything was set for tonight. After they were taking Matthew over to Nicole and Dean's house, Andy was taking Sharon out to Serve for dinner, before heading over to the theater. That was going to be a surprise for Sharon. Going back to Serve, where their first "official" date was held. Someone walking in to the Murder Room broke Andy's memory from that time. Andy glanced up to see FBI Special Agent Morris walk in. 'Ugh, what does he want' he thought to himself as he watched him walk over to Sharon's office.

Special Agent Morris knocked on Sharon's door before entering her office. Sharon looked up from her computer screen. "Special Agent Morris, to what do we owe this visit?" Sharon said as he entered her office. "I just stopped by here to update you on D'Angelo's trial" Special Agent Morris said to Sharon as he took a seat across from her desk. Sharon lowered her laptop screen and listened to what Special Agent Morris had to say. "The jury is deliberating right now so the judge ordered a thirty minute break and to reconvene back at 1:30. I believe the jury is going to convict, Captain" Special Agent Morris said to Sharon. "That's good to hear" Sharon said back to him.

Andy was watching the exchange between Sharon and Special Agent Morris and all Andy could hope was that nothing was going to ruin their plans for the evening. Special Agent Morris stood up from his seat and then made his way back out and exited their office. Andy took that moment to stand up and knock on Sharon's door. He opened it slightly and peaked his head in. "Please tell me that was just a social call?" Andy said to Sharon. Sharon smiled at him. "Yes, he was just updating me on the case against D'Angelo. The jury is deliberating now, and they should come back with a verdict soon" Sharon said to Andy. Andy looked relieved when he heard that. "Don't worry, nothing is going to ruin our plans tonight" Sharon said reassuring him. Andy smiled and then closed the door to her office. He took a walk to the break room because he had nervous energy that needed to be expelled before they left. He walked up to the windows that overlooked the city and stared out them for a couple of minutes. "Hey Flynn! Everything okay?" Provenza said as he walked up to join his friend. Andy turned around. "Yes, I guess I'm just nervous because I want tonight to be special for Sharon. I mean, how often does Emily come to LA to perform. Not that often. Plus, I made dinner reservations for us at Serve, that's a surprise for Sharon. And Matthew has been giving us a hard time this past week, so I'm hoping he behaves himself tonight for Nicole and Dean" Andy said rambling on. Provenza looked at him.

"First of all, take a deep breath because I don't want you hyperventilating because you're rambling. Second, I'm sure everything will be fine and go off without a hitch for you and the Captain. And third, Matthew is nine years old, he's supposed to give you a hard time. Relax, Flynn" Provenza said as he patted him on the back. Andy nodded at his friend. "Yeah, you're right. I just have a feeling that something is not going to work out. You know, Murphy's law? If something is going to go wrong, it will" Andy said to Provenza. "Come on, isn't it time for you to leave with the Captain?" Provenza said back to Andy as he ushered him back towards the Murder Room.

Sharon and Andy both left the office early and headed over to Matthew's school to pick him up. He was excited to be staying at Nicole and Dean's house because he was looking forward to playing with Colin and Avery. That's all the three talked about when they were at recess was what they were going to do tonight when Matthew came over. They then went to pick Moxie up and headed back home. Once they arrived at their house, Sharon went upstairs to take a shower while Andy made sure that Matthew did his homework. Sharon came downstairs wearing an Armani red dress with the heart necklace Andy had given her for Christmas. As she walked in to the kitchen, Andy stopped what he was doing and stared at her. "You look beautiful" Matthew said to Sharon. "Thank you Matthew" she said back as Andy came up to her. "You look absolutely breathtaking" he said to her as he kissed her on her lips. Sharon blushed. "Go change" she whispered to him. "Come on Matthew" Andy said as he turned around to head upstairs. Matthew followed Andy. Andy took a quick shower and shaved. He then pulled his dark suit he was going to wear and complemented it with a red tie to match Sharon's dress. He sprinkled on his cologne and then went in Matthew's room to see if he was ready.

When Andy came back downstairs, he went in to the kitchen while Matthew made a stop in the family room to get something. Sharon looked at him and smiled. "You clean up very nicely" she said to Andy as she gave him a kiss. She inhaled his cologne and hummed. "Hmm, my favorite" she said. "I know" he said back to her. Matthew was ready and they left their house. Moxie was staying home and Rusty had agreed to check on him and let him out while they were at the ballet. They drove over to Nicole and Dean's house and walked with Matthew up to the house. Nicole answered the door and smiled. "Hey Matthew, the boys are in their room playing, you can go on up there too" Nicole said to Matthew as he went upstairs. "You look gorgeous Sharon" Nicole said to her as she gave her a hug. "Thank you" Sharon said back to her. "Dad, not too bad either" Nicole said to Andy as he smiled at her. "So where are you going to dinner?" Nicole asked them. "Uh, that's a surprise actually" Andy answered as Sharon looked at him. Andy then glanced at his watch. "We better get going" he said to them. "Thank you so much Nicole for doing this. Say hello to Dean when he comes home" Sharon said to Nicole and then they left.

"So, a surprise for dinner?" Sharon said to Andy as they got back in the car and started to drive away. "Yes, you'll see when we get there" Andy said back to her. Sharon smiled as she looked out the window and enjoyed the ride. When Andy pulled up at Serve, Sharon was truly surprised. She looked over at Andy as she got out of the car and Andy held her hand. They walked inside the restaurant. "Reservations for Flynn" Andy said to the hostess. "Right this way" they said to them and Sharon and Andy followed them to their table. Andy held out Sharon's chair as she sat down and then he sat down across from her. They ordered dinner, held hands while talking, and ate their food when it came. Andy paid the bill when it was delivered to their table and they left the restaurant. They drove to the theater and parked across the street. As they were walking in to the front of the theater, Sharon was holding a bouquet of flowers to give to Emily after her performance tonight. As they got closer to the entrance, Sharon looked up. Emily's name was on the marquee and Sharon was speechless. Andy stopped as Sharon looked at it. "Surprise!" he whispered to her and kissed her.

They went inside and found their seats. The performance started a couple of minutes after and Sharon held Andy's hand as they both watched Emily perform on the stage. The performance was beautiful and afterwards, the met Emily backstage and Sharon gave Emily the bouquet of flowers. "Thank you Mom and Andy for coming tonight!" Emily said as she was excited. "Oh, honey you were absolutely fabulous tonight!" Sharon said as she hugged Emily. Andy hugged her as well. "Thank you both so much!" Emily said to them as they stood there. It was getting late by the time Sharon and Andy made their way back to their car. Andy held the door open for Sharon as she got in. He then walked around and got in the car and drove them back to Nicole and Dean's house. "Thank you for a wonderful evening, Andy" Sharon said to him as she held his right hand as he drove. He brought her hand up to his lips when they stopped at a red light and kissed it. "You're welcome" he said to her and then they continued driving towards Nicole and Dean's house.

They pulled up to the driveway and Andy got out. "You can stay in the car while I go get Matthew" he said to her and she did. Andy rang the doorbell and Dean opened the door. "Hello Andy" Dean said. "Hi Dean, is Matthew all ready to go?" Andy asked him as he stepped inside the house. "Yes, let me just get Nicole" Dean said as he walked away. Nicole came a couple of minutes later from upstairs with Matthew. "Hi Daddy" Matthew said to Andy as he walked to the front door. Nicole gave her Dad a quizzical look and Andy just smiled. He gave Nicole a kiss good bye and then they walked to the car where Sharon was waiting. "Did you have a good time tonight?" Andy asked Matthew as he opened the back door for him. "Yes, Colin and Avery and I had a lot of fun playing. We watched a movie too" Matthew said as he got settled in. "That's good to hear" Sharon said as Andy climbed in to the driver's seat and then drove them home.

When they got home, Matthew went upstairs with Sharon and got ready for bed. Andy took Moxie out one more time and then they headed upstairs as well. Matthew was tucked in and Moxie joined him in his room. "Good night buddy!" Andy said to Matthew. "Good night Mom, good night Dad!" Matthew said to them. It was a new thing Matthew was doing, calling them Mom and Dad as much as possible. Sharon and Andy didn't mind at all. Sharon walked in to their bedroom and got ready for bed. It was already passed 11 o'clock and she was tired from all of the evening's activities. Andy sat on the bed and removed his dress shoes. He plugged his phone in the charging station on the night stand and removed his tie. He waited for Sharon to be finished in the bathroom before he went in there. "Wow!" he said to her as he passed her up. She came out wearing the purple silk nightgown that Andy absolutely loved. Sharon smiled at him. "I'll be waiting" she said to him as he went in to the bathroom. Andy shook his head and chuckled to himself. He closed the door behind him and got himself ready for bed.

When he came out of the bathroom, he saw Sharon laying on their bed with the covers pulled back. Andy turned off the main light and made his way over to her. He crawled in bed and joined her under the covers. She wanted to show him just how much she appreciated their night out. They drifted off to sleep after a night of passion, limbs tangled with one another, both happy.

Andy's phone rang at 2:37 in the morning. He woke up and glanced down at Sharon who was still sleeping. He slowly moved his arm to answer his phone. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Mike calling him. "Hello?" he answered and Mike started telling him about the roll out they just caught. "Okay, text me the address and I'll meet you guys there" Andy said and then hung up. Sharon stirred and woke up. "What is it?" she asked him. "We caught a case. Mike is there now. Stay here with Matthew" he said to her as he got up and got dressed. He came back in to the bedroom and kissed Sharon. "I'll call you later" he said to her. "Okay, be careful" she said back to him and went back to sleep. Andy hurried down the stairs and grabbed his jacket. He then headed out the door and got in his car and drove towards the crime scene. He was a little skeptical about what Mike had told him over the phone. A body was found in a local park by a homeless man. He had notified the police somehow and when the patrol officers showed up to the body, they had found something interesting. Mike didn't tell him over the phone what patrol had found. Andy continued to drive to the crime scene and pulled up to the location.

Andy got out of the car and flashed his badge at the patrol officer as he bent down underneath the crime scene tape. He saw where Mike was standing and by the time he arrived, the whole squad was there, including Provenza. "Sorry I'm late guys" he said as he walked up to them. Mike and Provenza looked at him. "So what's so interesting about this dead body that warrants Major Crimes to come out?" Andy said as he took a look around. "A business card was found on the body, Flynn" Provenza said to him as they walked over to where the body was located. "What kind of card?" Andy asked him. Mike bent down towards the body and picked up the evidence bag that had the card inside of it and held it up to Andy for him to see. "Your business card" Provenza said to Andy as Andy looked at it through the evidence bag. "Well how the hell did it get there?" Andy said. "That's a good question" Provenza said back to Andy as they looked at each other.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 3

The crime scene was a blur since Andy had looked at his business card. 'How the hell did it get on this body?' he thought to himself as Provenza and Mike continued to look around. Andy just stood there, staring blankly at the body. It was a woman, blond hair, maybe mid-thirties. Andy didn't recognize her at all. There was no other identification on her. The coroner was there and they moved the body, snapping Andy out of his stare. He turned around and looked for Provenza who was speaking with a patrol officer. Provenza then turned around and headed back towards Andy. "You know, I'm going to have to notify the Captain what we discovered here" Provenza said to Andy in a low and quiet voice. Andy glanced at his watch. 5:15 it said. Andy nodded. "Kendall said that Doctor Morales wouldn't be ready with the body until later this morning. I guess there is a backup in the morgue or something" Andy said stoically back to Provenza. Provenza then pulled out his phone and began to dial Sharon's number.

Just then, Lieutenant Camacho and Sergeant Staples walked on to the scene. Provenza looks up as he is dialing Sharon's number and sees them entering. "What are they doing here?" he said to Andy as Andy looked over in their general direction. "Oh, sorry to wake you up Captain, but we have a situation on our hands here" Provenza said over the phone to Sharon as he walked away from Andy. "What is it, Lieutenant?" Sharon said as she got out of bed. "It seems the dead body we have here had Flynn's business card on it, no other identification" Provenza informed her. "What?" Sharon said as she rubbed her head and walked over to their closet. "Oh, and to make matters worse, your friends from FID just walked on to the scene" Provenza added. "How was Andy's business card discovered on the body, Lieutenant?" Sharon asked him as she was trying to comprehend what he was telling her. "We don't know how, Captain" Provenza answered as he watched Lieutenant Camacho and Sergeant Staples make their way towards Andy. "Um, all we know is Morales won't be ready for us until mid-morning and I need to run interference with FID as they are approaching Andy as we speak" Provenza said to her. "Okay, Lieutenant. Andy doesn't have to speak with them at the crime scene, plus why are they even there, it's not an officer involved shooting, is it?" Sharon asked him. "Uh, no Captain, not officer involved anything" Provenza said to her. "Look, I got to go. We will see you back at the Murder Room, Captain" Provenza said and then hung up, making his way back towards Andy.

"Lieutenant Flynn, may we have a word with you?" Sergeant Staples said to Andy as they approached him. "What about, Staples?" Andy said back to him. "You're involvement with the dead body" Sergeant Staples said back to him. "I'm not involved with the dead body, you better check your sources again" Andy said to him. Provenza reached Andy and interrupted the exchange between Sergeant Staples and Andy. "Okay, okay, as the Incident Commander on site, do you mind telling me what FID is doing here?" Provenza said to Lieutenant Camacho and Sergeant Staples. "We heard that an officer of the LAPD was involved in the dead body so we came down to investigate" Lieutenant Camacho said to Provenza. "Well you heard wrong" Andy muttered back to them. Provenza looked at Andy and patted his arm to calm him down. "Look, this is my crime scene and no one is going to interview anyone here about the dead body until we know for sure what exactly happened" Provenza said to Lieutenant Camacho. "Besides, this is not a use of force investigation, so I suggest you gentlemen, and I use the term loosely, head back to your office and wait there" Provenza said to the both of them. "Fine, Lieutenant. But we will be at your office later this morning to speak with Lieutenant Flynn there" Sergeant Staples said and then they left the crime scene.

Provenza let out a deep sigh as he saw FID leave his crime scene and then turned towards Andy who was standing next to him. Andy was deep in thought as Provenza tapped him on the shoulder. "Flynn, Flynn, what did you get yourself into?" Provenza asked him. "I didn't do anything. I told you I never saw that woman before in my life. I don't know her!" Andy said back to Provenza. "Okay, okay. Well then we'll need to figure out how your card got there in the first place and we will also need an ID on the body" Provenza said to Andy and they walked back to the other team members gathered at the scene. "What did Sharon say when you called her?" Andy asked him quietly as they walked. "Nothing much. She wondered why FID was here as well. She'll meet us back at the Murder Room" Provenza told Andy. Andy then received a text on his phone. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw that it was from Sharon. 'Are you okay? I'll meet you back at the Murder Room. Rusty's taking Matthew to school today as he's off. He'll watch Moxie as well. How did this happen?' was the message she had sent him. The last thing he wanted was her rushing back to the Murder Room because of something he did or did not do in this case. He responded back to her text. 'I'm fine. No rush. I don't know' was the message he sent to her. After he sent that message to her, he thought it sounded short and almost cold. He quickly sent her another text message. 'I love you. Please drive carefully' and waited for her response. 'I love you too' was her response to him. He then placed his phone back in his pocket and joined Provenza with everyone else there.

They met back at the Murder Room with all the evidence that was collected at the crime scene. Buzz had taken a lot of video shots while they were there and he was bringing them in to the electronics room so that he could go over and review them. Andy was the last one to walk in to the Murder Room. As he walked in, he saw Sharon standing outside her office, looking for him. She made eye contact with him and then headed over to stand by him. She laid her hand on his arm, reassuring him and then proceeded with the case. "Alright, what do we know so far?" Sharon said to the team as they settled in their desks. "The body was discovered by Adam, a homeless guy, who was in the park walking back to his space, at 1:35 in the morning" Julio said to Sharon. "Do we have anything on Adam?" Sharon asked Julio. "No ma'am, he doesn't have a record" Julio stated to her. "The police were called and responded at 1:40 by patrol officers in the West Hollywood division" Amy stated as she placed pictures up on the Murder Board. Andy leaned up against a desk and watched as Amy added picture after picture to the Murder Board. Sharon glanced back at him. "According to them, when they arrived at the scene, the only person who was there was Adam. When they looked at the body, that's when Lieutenant Flynn's business card was discovered laying on top" Amy said to Sharon and then she sat down at her desk. Sharon turned to Andy. "Did you recognize the body?" she asked him. "No, I don't know who she is" Andy said back to her.

"Okay, how did the card look on the body? Did it seem as if it was placed at a certain spot on the body itself, or was it hidden and then discovered?" Sharon asked her team. "Captain, the business card was laying on the body, in plain sight, according to the patrol officers" Mike said to her. "When did we get the first notification for the call out?" Sharon asked them. "I was notified at 2 o'clock" Mike said to Sharon and Sharon wrote the timeline on the board. "Mike, when you arrived at the crime scene, did you see Lieutenant Flynn's business card on the body?" Sharon asked him as she turned away from the board. "Yes, it was lying on the victim's stomach" Mike said to her. "What time did you arrive, Mike?" Sharon asked. "2:30. I saw the body and started to make the notifications" Mike said. "And then you notified Lieutenant Flynn at 2:37 about the body and call out to the scene" Sharon said as she wrote that down for the timeline. "Yes Captain" Mike said and sat back in his chair. "When I arrived at the scene at 3:35, everyone was there already" Andy said to Sharon and then she wrote that down on the board as well.

Sharon looked at the board and then faced her team. "Okay, everyone we need an ID on our victim here" Sharon said to them. "I'll run the picture of her face through our facial recognition software, see if we come up with anything" Mike said to Sharon and Sharon nodded. "Julio, please see if Doctor Morales happens to have printed our victim yet" Sharon said to Julio. "Yes ma'am" he said as he picked up his phone. "We are going to need to go through past cases, once we ID the victim and see if anyone has a connection to you, Andy" Sharon said to Provenza, Amy, and Andy. "Are you suggesting this might be some sort of revenge, Captain?" Provenza asked her. "It's hard to say for sure, Lieutenant. I'm open to any suggestion you might have" Sharon said to Provenza and then started to walk towards her office. "Andy, please follow me" Sharon said as she passed Andy and went in to her office. Andy looked around at everyone and then followed her inside.

He took a seat in one of her chairs across from her desk as she closed the door behind her. "I'm sorry, Sharon" Andy said to her as she sat down on her chair. "What are you sorry for?" Sharon asked him. "For waking you earlier this morning and not being able to take Matthew to school and" Andy rambled on before Sharon interrupted him. "Nonsense Andy. This is not your fault. We caught a case, it happens" Sharon said to him holding her hand up. Andy sat back in the chair. "I don't know who that woman is, Sharon. I've never seen her before" Andy said to her. "I know, Andy. We are going to figure this out" Sharon said back to him as she looked across her desk at him. Sharon took a deep breath. "We need to shut down FID's investigation before it even starts against you" she said to him. Andy looked up at her and was shocked at hearing that from her. Andy shook his head. "Andy, you have done nothing wrong and there's no misconduct, so why would FID be at the scene wanting to interview you?" Sharon said to him. "I don't know" Andy said to her. Provenza then knocked on her office door. "Come in" she said and Provenza entered, closing the door behind him.

"Captain, Mike is nowhere close to IDing the victim and Julio said that Morales is still preparing the body, so" Provenza said to Sharon. "So, we are stuck in limbo then" Sharon answered him as she sat back in her chair. "Seems that way, yes" Provenza said as he took the chair next to Andy and sat down. "As I was explaining to Andy, we need to shut down FID's investigation before it starts" Sharon explained to Provenza. "Do we know why they were even at the crime scene in the first place?" Sharon asked them. Andy shook his head. "No, Captain, we don't" Provenza said. "I didn't give them time to explain before I told them to leave" he added. "What did they say to you?" Sharon asked Andy. "Staples asked me about my involvement with the dead body. I told him that I wasn't involved and to check his sources. Then Lieutenant Camacho said that they heard an officer was involved and they came to investigate. They wanted to interview me right there but Provenza kicked them out of his crime scene" Andy said to Sharon. Sharon looked over at Provenza and gave him a look. "What? I was the Incident Commander on the scene and they were there for no good reason" Provenza said. "I know that's your old group, Captain but still" Provenza added. "No offense taken, Lieutenant. I would have done the same thing if I was there" Sharon said to Provenza. "Thank you" she added.

A half hour later, Andy was still sitting in Sharon's office while she was on the phone with Chief Howard. "Any pull you can do with getting Morales ready faster with the body would be greatly appreciated, Chief" Sharon said over the phone and then hung up. She was about to say something to Andy when she heard a commotion outside her office. Both her and Andy stood up and walked outside to see Sergeant Staples and Lieutenant Camacho both standing inside the Murder Room. "Gentlemen, what is FID doing here in my Murder Room?" Sharon inquired to them. "Captain, we informed Lieutenant Provenza and Lieutenant Flynn at the crime scene that we would be back for an interview with Lieutenant Flynn" Sergeant Staples said to Sharon. "And why do you want to interview one of my Lieutenants, Sergeant?" Sharon said to Staples. "Because, Captain, his business card was lying on the dead body" Lieutenant Camacho responded to Sharon. "Fine" Sharon said to them and both Provenza and Andy turned to give Sharon a look. "But, I'm going to sit in the interview with him as his Commanding Officer" Sharon said to them. Staples and Camacho started to object. "And if I don't like the way the line of questioning is going, we are done" Sharon added and they both agreed. Sharon showed them the way to the conference room and Andy followed right behind her. "So much for shutting them down" Andy mumbled to her as they took their seats inside the conference room.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 4

Provenza stood at his desk as Sharon, Andy, and FID walked in to the conference room and closed the door. "Alright people we need to step on it and gets some answers before those vultures from FID sink their teeth into the Captain and Flynn" Provenza said to the rest of the team. "Uh, vultures don't have teeth, sir. They are a bird and have beaks" Buzz said to Provenza. "Thank you Wild Kingdom, ye gods!" Provenza said as he sat down at his desk. "Does anybody have anything yet?" Provenza asked them. "No match on the facial recognition. I ran it through the DMV hoping to hit on a driver's license or state ID" Mike said to Provenza. "Amy, you and Julio go down to the Morgue, I don't care if Doctor Morales is ready for us or not, take the victim's fingerprints so we can run them through our system" Provenza said to both Amy and Julio. "Yes sir" they answered in unison and left the Murder Room. Provenza looked over at Buzz. "Did you look at the video footage from the crime scene yet?" he asked Buzz. "Yes sir, if you want I can look at it again. I also checked with nearby surveillance cameras pointed at the park's direction to see if they picked up anything. I am currently downloading those images now" Buzz said to Provenza. "Good, thank you Buzz" Provenza said to him and then glanced over at the conference room.

"Captain, with all due respect, you should not be in here while we interview Lieutenant Flynn because you are his wife" Sergeant Staples said to Sharon. "That may be so Sergeant, but you are the ones who are barging in to my Murder Room, disrupting our investigation of a possible murder because you want to interview one of my Lieutenants, for no apparent reason" Sharon said to Staples and looked back at him. Andy gave a slight smile as Sharon said that. "Now, can we please start so that we can get back to solving this murder" Sharon added. "Lieutenant Flynn, where were you last night?" Staples asked Andy. "I was with my wife, attending her daughter's ballet at the Dolby Theater" Andy said to him. "From what time till what time where you there?" Staples asked him. Andy let out a sigh and then answered him. "The show started at 7:30, we left the theater at 10 o'clock" Andy said to Staples. "What time did you arrive home last night?" Staples asked him. Andy gave Staples a 'this is ridiculous' look and then glanced at Sharon before he answered. "Around 11" Andy said. "And Captain, you can vouch for his whereabouts last night?" Staples asked Sharon. "Yes" Sharon said and then Andy got even more agitated. "Look! You want to cut the crap, Staples and just come out and ask me!?" Andy said to him. Sharon grabbed Andy's hand underneath the table and gently squeezed it to calm him down.

"Lieutenant Flynn, were you involved with the victim?" Staples asked Andy. "No" Andy said, gritting his teeth. "Do you know the victim?" Staples asked. "No" Andy answered. "You've never met her before?" Staples asked him. "No" Andy answered. "Then why was your card found on the victim's body?" Staples asked. Before Andy could give him an answer, Sharon spoke up. "Sergeant, if you would let us conduct our investigation into this, we will figure out why Lieutenant Flynn's business card was on the body. But by being in here instead of out there, you are stalling my investigation" Sharon said in to him. "Now, the Lieutenant here has answered your questions, I think it is time we move on, correct?" Sharon added. Staples and Camacho both looked at them. "Thank you, Captain, Lieutenant for your cooperation" Staples said as he stood up from the table. Lieutenant Camacho shook Sharon's hand. "Captain" he said to her as they left the conference room.

Sharon watched them leave her Murder Room and then focused on Andy who was still sitting there. "They think I'm involved, don't they?" Andy asked Sharon quietly. "I don't know what they think, Andy" Sharon said as she sat back down next to him. "Oh come on, Sharon! You were one of them, not too long ago!" Andy said to her. "Six years ago" Sharon quietly answered him. Andy looked at her and lowered his voice. "I'm sorry" he said to her as he hung his head. She grabbed his hand again. "Let's try to figure this out together, Andy" Sharon said to him and then she stood up from the table. Andy stood up from the table as well and they walked hand in hand to the door. As soon as the door opened and they walked out to the Murder Room, they let go of each other's hands.

"Alright, now that FID is no longer in here, do we have anything new to report?" Sharon said as she made her way back to Provenza's desk. She noticed that Amy and Julio were absent. "I sent Amy and Julio down to the Morgue to get the fingerprints from Morales. At least we can start on that while we wait for the body to be ready" Provenza said to Sharon and she nodded in agreement. Andy leaned up on an open desk by Mike's desk. "Captain, Buzz and I have been looking at surveillance footage from around the park, trying to determine if we see our victim, so far nothing yet" Mike said to Sharon. "Do we even have a time of death yet?" Sharon asked them. "Officially, no" Mike answered her. "What about unofficially?" Sharon asked. "Unofficially, yes. Kendall said he estimated the time of death to be around midnight" Mike said to her and then returned to watching the video with Buzz.

Julio and Amy walked in the room, back from the Morgue with the fingerprint card from their victim. "Captain, we have the victim's fingerprints. Doctor Morales says that he will be ready for you in an hour" Amy said to Sharon as Julio handed the fingerprint card to Mike. Mike moved back to his desk and the fingerprints were run in their system. The program ran for about five minutes until it beeped, alerting Mike to a possible hit. "Captain, we have a possible match. The prints came back to a DUI in our system, not too long ago" Mike said to Sharon as Andy and her made their way over to his desk. "Who do we have Tao?" Provenza said eager to know as well as everyone else. "Melissa Summers, age 38" Mike said. As the picture popped up on Mike's computer, Andy leaned over to take a closer look. "I still don't know who she is" Andy said as he lifted his right hand in to the air in disgust. "Do we have an address, Mike?" Sharon asked him. "Yes, 11452 La Salle Avenue Los Angeles" Mike answered her. "That's a long way from where her body was found" Julio said to the team. "Maybe she worked in the area?" Amy suggested. "Let's run a background check on Melissa and see what we can find on her" Sharon said to everyone as she made her way back towards her office. Andy stood at Mike's desk, staring at the picture in front of him. "Hey Andy?" Mike said to him quietly. "Yeah?" Andy answered him. "Everything okay?" Mike asked. "Yeah" Andy said as he scratched his head and then made his way back to his desk.

The phone rang and Sharon answered it. "Captain, sorry for the delay but I'm ready for you now" Doctor Morales stated to her over the phone. "Thank you Doctor" Sharon said as she hung up and walked out of her office. "Doctor Morales is ready" she tells Andy as she walked past his desk. Andy gets up and followed her. Provenza joined them as well and the three of them headed to the Morgue. When they arrived, Doctor Morales was waiting for them in the small hallway outside of the exam room. "Captain, right this way" he said to her as he led them in to his exam room. The body of Melissa Summers was laying on top of the exam table, with a sheet covering her. "I take it you were able to run her prints and get an ID, Captain?" Doctor Morales said to Sharon. "Yes, her name is Melissa Summers" Sharon said to him. "Okay, good so your victim, Melissa here, was killed with a 12 inch serrated blade. She was stabbed multiple times in her front and back" Doctor Morales said to them as he showed them the wounds. "It looks like she put up some sort of resistance, there is blood and flesh underneath her nails. I was able to get a sample from them and I sent that off to the lab" Doctor Morales said. Sharon nodded as she looked at the body. Andy stood there with his arms folded across his chest. "I heard she had your business card on her body when she was discovered, Lieutenant" Doctor Morales said to Andy. "Yeah" Andy said stoically. Morales looked at Provenza and Sharon. "Anyway, the weapon you are looking for may look like this, Captain" Doctor Morales said as he placed a picture up on his board. "Long handle, with a blade that protrudes outward, and serrated teeth on the bottom running across the whole blade" Doctor Morales stated. "Do you have a time of death, Doctor?" Sharon asked him. "Yes, I would say roughly around 12:30 am" Doctor Morales said to her. "Thank you" Sharon said to him and then they retreated out of the exam room.

Andy took his gown off and proceeded to place it in the bin. "So Captain, this murder seems personal in nature" Provenza said to Sharon as they walked out of the exam room. Sharon nodded in agreement. "Yes it does, Lieutenant" she said to him as she looked over at Andy. Andy was walking away towards the elevators. Provenza and Sharon joined him. "We need to figure out who this Melissa Summers was" Sharon said as they stepped onto the elevator. Sharon reached out and tried grabbing Andy's hand in hers but he pulled away from her. "Please don't" he said quietly. Sharon looked hurt as Provenza looked at her. "Fine" she said barely above a whisper as they rode in silence. The elevator doors opened and they got off on their floor. They started walking towards the Murder Room but Provenza stopped Andy from following Sharon inside. "You, me, break room, now!" Provenza said to Andy and then re-directed him over towards the break room.

When they got to the break room, Provenza made sure no one else was inside before they stepped in. Andy walked in and Provenza closed the door behind them. "What the hell is your problem, Flynn?" Provenza said to him. Andy just looked at him. "Spare me the lecture, alright?" Andy said back to him. "No, I will not do that. We are trying to solve a murder here, in case you haven't noticed and I can't have you sulking in the background because of some ill placed business card of yours" Provenza laid into him. Andy just stood there and listened to his friend yell at him. "Should I give you, what do they call it again, Ginkgo biloba to help your memory?" Provenza said to Andy and Andy glared back at him and shook his head. "Do you think I put that business card there?" Andy said back to Provenza. "No, that's not what I'm saying, Flynn" Provenza said looking back at Andy. "Well then what are you saying because it sure seems like everyone here, including FID thinks I'm involved somehow!" Andy yelled back at him. Provenza and Andy just stood there, staring at each other. Andy then looked down at the ground and took a seat in a nearby chair. "Are you okay?" Provenza said as he went to him. "No I'm not okay" Andy answered him back. "Is it your heart?" Provenza asked as he looked at Andy. "No, it's not my heart" Andy said as he took a deep breath. "I'm going to get the Captain" Provenza said. "No, don't bother Sharon, please" Andy said to him. Provenza sat down across from him and continued to watch as Andy took another deep breath.

Andy started to talk after 30 seconds. "How would you like it if there was a body of some girl and on her body was your business card, but you don't recognize her at all and you keep wracking your brain to see if somehow she's connected to you, but you still can't figure it out. And then you have Sharon, your wife, who loves you and you love her, come up to you, defend you to FID, and all you can say to her is that you're sorry, but you don't know why you're apologizing to her. And then for no good reason you push her away after she wants to hold your hand" Andy started rambling. "Flynn, you're an idiot do you know that? You don't remember what I went through ten years ago with that kid gang banger we found from 1992?" Provenza said to him. "Yeah I remember with Father Jack" Andy said as he looked at him. "But that's not the same thing as this" he added and they continued to speak to each other. After their conversation in the break room, they both headed back to the Murder Room where Sharon and the rest of the team were gathered in front of the Murder Board. Sharon looked at both of them as they entered the room. Provenza nodded his head to her and she acknowledged. Andy headed for his desk to sit down. "Captain, I think we found something on one of the surveillance cameras" Mike said to Sharon as he stood up where he and Buzz were situated.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 5

"Right there, you see a man walking in the park, holding something upright next to him and then they move off the screen" Mike said as he pointed the frame out to the team. The team had relocated to the RACR room to look at the video screen and Buzz was controlling each screen. "Only to be picked up here, on this camera, heading out of the park without holding anything" Buzz stated to the team as he switched videos and paused it for everyone to see. "The man then walks towards a vehicle and drives away" Mike states. "Can we get a license plate on that vehicle?" Provenza asked them. "The picture is too blurry, sir. I've tried to enhance it but I can't get a clear picture on it" Buzz said to Provenza. "And we don't have a clear picture of his face either" Sharon said to them. "No, he doesn't look towards any of the cameras stationed in the area" Buzz said to her. Sharon turned around to face her team. "During the background check, did anyone run Melissa's name in our database to see if she is connected to any past cases?" Sharon said to them. "Nothing showed up, Captain" Amy answered her.

"Melissa Summers is single, lives in a house that she owns. Looks like financially, she was great. She had no debt. No family members, mom and dad passed away a couple of years ago and looks like she was the only child" Mike said to Sharon. "Where did she work?" Sharon asked. "She worked at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore at The Grove" Amy answered Sharon. "Did anyone speak with her employer?" Sharon asked. "Yes, ma'am. I did not say she was killed, I simply confirmed with the manager if she worked there. They confirmed it" Julio said to Sharon. "Let's go down there and interview her co-workers, maybe she was dating someone recently that her co-workers knew about" Sharon said to them and then they left the room. Sharon stayed back as she glanced over at Andy who was still sitting down. She walked over to him. "I want to catch this dirt bag, Sharon" Andy said to her in a whisper as he stared at the video screen. "We will. But I need you to go over your old cases and see if there is a connection somehow to this one" Sharon said to Andy, knowing that if she kept him busy, it would help him in the end. Andy nodded to Sharon and then stood up from his chair. He looked at Sharon who was now standing in front of him. "I'm sorry I was a jerk earlier in the elevator. I'm just having a hard time with this, that's all" Andy said to Sharon. Sharon ran her hand up and down his arm. "Apology accepted" she said to him. "Do you need a meeting?" she asked him. "No" he said as he shook his head. They left the RACR room and headed back to the Murder Room.

While the rest of the team was out at Melissa's place of employment, and Andy was at his desk going over his case files, Sharon closed the door to her office and sat down at her desk. 'Why was FID at the crime scene?' she thought to herself. She knew Staples and Camacho were not going to tell her anything regarding why they were there, but she still had a connection inside FID. She picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Sergeant Elliot, Captain Flynn" Sharon said on the phone. "Yes, I need a favor" Sharon said back to Elliot as she glanced over at Andy sitting at his desk.

It turned out that interviewing her co-workers really didn't offer them any insights. "She worked here for the past fifteen years in the children's books department" one of them said. "Did she talk about any boyfriends in her life?" Julio asked the person he was interviewing. "No, she didn't mention anyone new to me" the person responded. "Did she mention anyone previously to you?" Julio asked which led to the name of Billy Ford who now sat in front of Provenza and Mike in an interview room. "How long did you and Melissa know each other?" Mike asked him. "Um, like ten years. We dated on and off for eight of them. She didn't want a serious relationship" Billy told Mike as he sat in his chair. "What's this about? Did something happen to Melissa?" Billy asked them. Mike looked at Provenza. "Billy, when was the last time you saw Melissa?" Provenza asked him. Billy looked back at Provenza. "Two days ago. We met for coffee after she got out of work. She wanted to talk with me about something but when I asked her about it, she just kept changing the subject" Billy answered them. Sharon, Amy, Julio, and Buzz were watching the interview in electronics when Andy joined them. He was going over his case files and had hit a dead end. "Is this guy saying anything?" Andy asked as he walked behind Sharon who was sitting down at the table. "No, but I don't think he's involved" Sharon answered him.

"Did she mention to you about someone possibly following her?" Mike asked Billy. Billy shook his head. "No, she never mentioned that. Can you please tell me what's going on?" Billy asked again. Provenza nodded at Mike. "I'm sorry to tell you this but last night, Melissa was murdered. Her body was found in a park close to her work early this morning" Mike explained to Billy as he showed him a picture. "Oh my god, Melissa. Who would do this kind of thing?" Billy said as he stared at the picture. "We are trying to figure that out but we need your help" Provenza said to him. Billy sat up straight in his chair as Provenza spoke to him. "Now, did she mention anything when you met for coffee two nights ago that might have stuck out?" Provenza asked him. Billy thought about it. "Not two nights ago, but a couple of weeks ago she had mentioned to me in passing about someone coming up to her at her work and asking about a type of children's book. She had mentioned to me that the man that asked her about the book seemed a little off" Billy said to Provenza. "Did she describe him to you?" Mike asked. "No" Billy said as he shook his head. "Did Melissa ever mention to you the name Andy Flynn?" Provenza asked him. "No" Billy said. "Did she ever say anything about going to the police for something?" Mike asked him. "No" Billy said as he sat there. Provenza looked up at the camera in the room. "So the killer had your business card, Andy" Sharon said to Andy. "Yeah, that makes it even better" Andy said back to her as they watched Mike and Provenza leave the room.

"I don't think Billy is involved Captain" Provenza said as he entered the electronics room. "I agree. What else do we have?" Sharon said. "I could pull up surveillance footage from The Grove and see if we can find her leaving work last night" Buzz said to Sharon. "Okay, you and Mike handle that. In the meantime, let's look over Andy's cases with him and see if we can find anything" Sharon said to the rest of them and they left the electronics room. There were boxes all around Andy's desk of his old case files going back to when he was in Robbery/Homicide. Sharon took one of the boxes and headed in to her office. "Sharon, you don't have to look through these with me" Andy said to Sharon. "I want to Andy" she simply said back to him and then placed the box on top of her desk and started going through the files. Andy sat down and grabbed a stack of files and started going through them. Amy, Julio, and Provenza did the same at their desks. Buzz and Mike looked at the surveillance footage from The Grove shopping center but they didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

It was getting late in the afternoon and Sharon was reading through one of Andy's cases when she came across a similar M.O. "Andy, read this case" she said to him as she handed the case file to him across her desk. "12 inch serrated blade used to kill the victim" Andy said and then looked up at Sharon. "But I caught that guy. He's doing life in prison. That was twenty years ago" Andy said to Sharon as he handed back the file. She placed it to the side on her desk and they kept looking through the files. Provenza's desk phone rang and he answered it. "Major Crimes, Lieutenant Provenza" he muttered in to the phone. "Oh, hello Patrice" he said as he smiled in to the phone. He glanced up at Amy who was watching him and then turned around in his chair to take her call. "Yes, I'm eating those celery sticks you gave me" he said to Patrice, as he looked for the container on his desk. "Okay, bye my love" he said to Patrice as he hung up his phone. Julio, Amy, and Mike all looked over at him. "You're not eating those sticks, sir" Julio said but couldn't keep a straight face and they all starting laughing. "Yes so very funny, ha ha" Provenza said as he got up and made his way to Sharon's office.

Provenza knocked on Sharon's door before coming in to her office. He saw both her and Andy going over a case file. "Any luck, Captain?" Provenza asked her. "Yes, Lieutenant, we found a similar weapon that was used in a case Andy investigated" Sharon said as she handed the case file to Provenza. "The same type of knife" Provenza said. "Yeah, but I put that dirt bag away, life in prison" Andy said back to Provenza. "Did he threaten you during the investigation?" Sharon asked Andy. "No, it was an open and shut case. We found him, I arrested him, he confessed, the end" Andy said to Sharon. "Why?" Provenza asked her. "I'm just trying to figure this out" Sharon said. "Did you have any cases where bodies were discovered in a park?" Sharon asked Andy. "All the time. That's where people like to dump dead bodies" Andy answered her as he continued looking through the file he was holding. "Wait a minute, here's something" Andy said as he paged through the file. "Same type of knife used in similar killing to the one now. This case was from fifteen years ago" Andy said as he handed the file to Sharon who looked it over. "Could be a coincidence" Provenza said as Sharon handed him the file to read. "I don't believe in coincidences, Lieutenant" Sharon said to him as she sat back in her chair.

"Okay, we found two cases so far that have the same type of weapon used in each killing" Sharon said to the team as she placed the photos of the murder weapons on the board. "This was from a case twenty years ago and this one from fifteen years ago" Sharon added as she wrote underneath the pictures and then walked away from the board. "In both of those cases, I caught the murderer and sent them to prison. One is doing life without parole, and the other one is sitting on death row" Andy said to the team. "How many bodies were found with each of these murderers, sir?" Julio asked Andy. "They each killed three people over the course of a couple of days, five years apart mind you" Andy answered. "Could be a copycat, ma'am" Julio said to Sharon. "Captain, if we are going to put up all of the cases that Flynn was involved in, with that particular knife as the murder weapon, then I think you are forgetting a huge case we did recently" Provenza said to Sharon as he went inside her office, opened up one of the filing cabinets, pulled out a file and opened it as he walked back to the Murder Board. He placed the file down at his desk and then placed the picture of the knife up on the board. "The knife Philip Stroh used" Provenza said as he sat back down at his desk. "Sir, Philip Stroh is dead, the Lieutenant killed him last year" Julio said to Provenza. "I know that, I was there remember? I'm just saying if you are going to put up all the same murder weapons over the course of the 30 plus years that Flynn has been with the LAPD, then that should also go up there" Provenza said. Andy huffed and shook his head when Provenza placed that picture on the board.

"Alright, alright, I think we are getting a little sidetracked from our current case" Sharon said to her team as she leaned up against a desk. "Any news from Morales about the DNA he was running that was found underneath Melissa's fingertips?" Sharon asked them. "No ma'am" Julio answered her. Just then, Sharon's phone alerted her to a text message. She glanced at her phone and saw it was from Emily. She would respond to her in a few minutes. "Surveillance footage doesn't show anything more does it" Sharon said to Mike and Buzz. "No Captain" Mike said and Buzz shook his head. "Dammit" Sharon muttered to herself. "Okay, it's been a long day. Go home and we will regroup tomorrow morning" Sharon said to her team as she made her way back to her office.

She pulled out her phone and read the message that Emily had sent her. 'How's your day going? Rehearsals went well this morning. At the theater now for tonight's performance' Emily wrote to her. Sharon replied back. 'Long day, trying to solve a murder. Good luck tonight, sweetheart! XOXO' Sharon wrote to her. She then sat down at her desk and looked over files. Andy was sitting at his desk as everyone left. Provenza walked over to him. "Flynn, don't worry, we are going to catch this person" Provenza said to him. Andy nodded to him. "Have a good night" Andy said to him and then Provenza left. Andy took a deep breath and then headed in to Sharon's office. "Are you all set to go?" he asked her. "Yes, I am" she said as she stood up and gathered her things. "You're not taking those files home are you?" Andy asked her as he saw her grab some files and shove them in to her bag. "I just want to look at them some more" she said to him as she walked up to him and touched his cheek. He smiled and then they closed the door behind them and headed to pick Matthew up from school.

When they arrived back home, Matthew and Moxie ran in to the house as soon as Sharon unlocked the back door. She was surprised to see Rusty and Gus in their kitchen. "Hello" she said to them. "Hi Mom" Rusty said back to her as he was sitting at the kitchen table. Gus was cooking dinner. "What are you guys doing here?" Sharon said as she placed her things on the kitchen counter and stood by the kitchen island. "Gus was off, so he decided to come over and make you guys dinner. I told him that you and Andy had an early call out this morning and" Rusty said and then Gus jumped in to the conversation. "And I thought I would make dinner for you tonight since you are probably both tired" Gus said to Sharon as Andy walked through the back door. Sharon smiled at Gus. "Rusty, Gus, what's going on here?" Andy said as he made his way in to the kitchen. "I'm making baked chicken breasts with mashed potatoes and green beans. And don't worry, Sharon, it's all heart healthy, I promise" Gus said to Andy and Sharon as he moved around their kitchen. "Smells delicious" Andy said as he loosened his tie. He then turned around and signaled to Sharon that he was going upstairs to change. Sharon nodded to him.

"So how was the ballet last night and Emily's performance?" Gus asked Sharon as she was going through the mail on the counter. "Oh it was so beautiful, she was so amazing in it" Sharon said to Gus and Rusty. Meanwhile, Andy went upstairs to change his clothes. He found Matthew in his room playing with some toys and Moxie was laying on the bed. Matthew had already changed out of his uniform. "So how was school today?" Andy asked him as he took a seat on his bed. Moxie moved closer to Andy and wanted to be petted by him. "It was okay. I have some homework to do still. How was your day?" Matthew said to Andy as he played with his LEGO set. "Long" Andy said back to Matthew as he watched him play for a couple of minutes. Sharon came upstairs and she went looking for both Andy and Matthew. She found both of them in Matthew's room. Matthew was playing with his LEGO set and Andy was sleeping on Matthew's bed. She smiled at the sight before her eyes.

Matthew turned around and saw Sharon standing in the doorway. "Shh, Daddy's sleeping" he said to Sharon in a whisper. "Okay" Sharon said to Matthew as she moved closer to the two of them. "He's had a long day" she said quietly to him as she lightly sat down next to Andy. "It's almost dinner time. Why don't you wash your hands and then go downstairs. Rusty and Gus are in the kitchen" Sharon whispered to Matthew who stood up in front of Sharon and gave her a hug. "Okay" he said to her and then left his room. Moxie followed him. Sharon looked down at Andy who stirred in his sleep as she ran her hands up and down his arm. Andy opened his eyes and saw he was still in Matthew's room. "I must have dozed off" he said to her and she smiled back at him. "Come on, dinner's almost ready" she said to him as she stood up and held out her hand for him to grab. He got up and grabbed her hand. He walked with her towards their room and once inside, pulled Sharon in for a kiss. "I'm sorry about earlier today" he said to her in between kissing her lips and neck. "I told you, apology accepted" she said back to him as she pulled away from him. She looked in to his eyes and smiled. "Come on, go change and then let's eat" she said to him, knowing that if they didn't stop now, it would only be Rusty, Gus, and Matthew eating dinner.

After they both changed their clothes, they headed downstairs and the dining room table was all set. "We're eating in here tonight, as the kitchen table isn't big enough" Rusty said to Sharon and Andy as they made their way in to the dining room. They both sat down at the table and was glad that Matthew was already there too. Gus brought the food and placed it on the table. They all sat down and enjoyed the dinner made by Gus. After dinner was finished and everything was cleaned up, Matthew finished up his homework while Gus and Rusty left to go to Rusty's apartment above the garage. Andy found Sharon sitting at her desk in the den going over the case files she brought home. "What do you think?" Andy asked Sharon as he entered the den. Sharon placed her glasses on the desk and leaned back in her chair. "Someone is trying to get your attention for whatever reason, Andy. Why else would they leave your business card there?" Sharon said to him. Andy shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Matthew made his way down the hall towards the den and stepped inside. "I'm all finished with my homework" Matthew said to them. "Good sweetie" Sharon said to Matthew and closed the case file that was on her desk. Sharon then left with Matthew and headed back to the kitchen. Andy stood in the den and scratched the back of his head. 'How did the killer get his business card?' he thought to himself. Andy sat down at Sharon's desk and started going through his head, how many times he had given out his business card. There were too many times to count. "We need to find another clue" he said out loud to himself.

Later on that night, they got Matthew ready for bed. Surprisingly, he went to bed without a commotion. "Good night sweetheart" Sharon said to Matthew as she kissed his forehead. "Good night" Matthew said back to her. "Good night buddy" Andy said to him. "Night" Matthew said back and closed his eyes. They closed his door behind them and made their way to their room. Sharon's phone alerted to a text message. It was from Emily saying that her performance tonight was fantastic. 'Great to hear, sweetie! Andy and I are so very proud of you!' Sharon texted back to her. Andy got ready for bed and then Sharon did the same. As they both laid there in bed, Andy held Sharon close to him. She rubbed circles on his chest. "We will find this person, Andy" Sharon said to him quietly. "I know" Andy said as he tried relaxing while Sharon rubbed his chest. That always brought a comfort to him no matter what was going on in his life. "I love you" he said to her. Sharon smiled into his chest. "I love you too" she said. He felt Sharon relax and fall asleep. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, keeping her close to him.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 6

Andy woke up at 2:30 to Moxie barking and scratching at Matthew's door. Sharon stirred in her sleep. "What's the matter?" she said to him as Andy got up. "Moxie's barking at something. Probably wants to go outside. Go back to sleep, sweetheart" Andy said back to her as he put his robe on. He then walked out of their room and in to the hallway, flipping the light on. Moxie was scratching at the door even more so now. "Moxie" Andy quietly called out to the dog as he opened the door to Matthew's room. Moxie ran out of the room and down the stairs. "Moxie!" Andy called out again, quietly so not to disturb Matthew or Sharon who, he hoped were still sleeping. Andy went after the dog and headed downstairs. He saw Moxie standing at the front door, wagging his tail, pawing at the front door now. "What's the matter, buddy?" Andy said to Moxie as he thought his behavior was a little strange. Andy came up to him and flipped the front porch light on so that he could see outside the window. He didn't notice anything unusual. Andy then went to grab Moxie's leash where he left it last night and when he came back from the kitchen, that's when he saw it. There was a white envelope laying at the front of the door.

Andy stopped right there when he saw the envelope. Moxie was looking back at him, still wagging his tail. Moxie then turned around and nudged at the door with his nose. Andy thought for a minute. There could be someone outside still, but he had no way of knowing how long that envelope had been lying there. He walked over to the front closet where they hung their jackets and moved some of the boots aside to reveal a safe. He keyed in the code and the little door opened revealing Andy's back up piece, a .38 revolver. He then stood back up and walked over to the front door. He placed the leash on Moxie and slowly opened the door. He peaked outside and slowly opened the screen door. He and Moxie then stood out on the front porch. Andy didn't see anything out of place. Moxie sniffed around a little and then walked towards the grass. Andy followed him and Moxie did his business.

Andy looked across the street, but there were no cars parked on it. He then turned around and went back inside the house with Moxie. He closed the front door and locked it, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He headed back over to the closet and placed his gun back in the safe. He then took Moxie off of his leash and Moxie stayed by Andy's side as he moved in to the kitchen. Andy was going through one of the drawers in the kitchen looking for a pair of gloves so that he could pick up the envelope. He finally found a pair of gardening gloves in the mud room and came back to the front door. He bent over and picked up the white envelope and saw that it wasn't sealed. He held it up to the light and it revealed that there was something inside of it. Andy let out a sigh and then opened the envelope.

Meanwhile, Sharon got up from the bed and put her robe around her. She then walked in to the hallway and headed for the stairs. She stopped at the top of the stairs as she looked to see Andy standing at the door holding something. "What is that?" she said to him, startling him in the process. "Geeze!" Andy said, startled, as he looked up to see Sharon standing at the top of the stairs. Sharon slowly made her way down the stairs. "Sorry" Sharon said to him quietly as she met him by the front door. "Where did that come from?" Sharon asked him. "I don't know. When I came down here with Moxie, it was already lying on the floor in front of the door" Andy said to her. Sharon began to look around. "No one was outside" Andy said to her. Sharon pulled her robe tighter around her body as she had just gotten a chill. She took a deep breath. "What does it say?" she asked Andy as he opened the envelope. A piece of paper was inside and he pulled it out.

"I needed to get your attention somehow and she seemed perfect for you. She reminded me of the women you used to date. Funny thing life is, it changes every day. One minute your fighting with a person over who has jurisdiction at a crime scene and the next minute you're happily married to them. Andy, do I have your attention now? Ready to play the game of Risk…" Andy said as he read the letter out loud. 'This letter doesn't make any sense' he thought to himself. He looked at Sharon who went back upstairs and grabbed her phone. He knew who she was calling and he hung his head. "Sorry to wake you Lieutenant, but a new development has occurred in our case" Sharon said to Provenza over the phone. Sharon then changed out of her nightgown and into a pair of yoga pants and a shirt. She threw on a cardigan before leaving their room. Andy changed out of his clothes and put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, so they would look halfway decent when the team arrived. Andy then headed back downstairs.

Andy waited for Provenza and the rest of the team to come over while Sharon woke Matthew up. She wanted him downstairs with them so as the two of them were heading down the stairs, she told Matthew that he could go sleep on the couch in the family room. Matthew carried his blanket and pillow and headed towards the family room. Sharon followed him there and turned on the light next to the couch. She made sure that the room was secured so she knew Matthew would be safe. There was a knock on the door and Moxie barked. Andy went to the door and pulled Moxie out of the way. Provenza and Mike were standing on the front porch as Andy opened the door for them. "Sorry to wake you guys" he said to them as they entered. "This is personal now" Andy said as he handed the letter to Mike. Andy had placed the letter in a zip lock bag so that they could get possible fingerprints off of it. Mike took a look at the letter and then handed it to Provenza. Provenza read it and then looked up at Andy. "So he knows where you live and he knows the Captain" Provenza said. "Yeah, so who the hell is it? An ex-cop, someone off the street, who?" Andy said to Provenza. "Well, hopefully we can get prints off of this letter and envelope and couple that with whatever Doctor Morales was able to retrieve from underneath the victim's fingernails, we can find out" Mike said to them.

Julio and Amy showed up next followed by Buzz. Sharon greeted the last three as they entered the house. "Buzz, could you do me a favor?" Sharon asked Buzz. "Sure Captain" Buzz said. "Would you mind staying in the family room with Matthew, I just want to make sure he's safe" Sharon said to Buzz. "No problem" Buzz said and then headed to the family room. "Captain, I had Chuck wake up some of his men and they are outside keeping an eye on your house, just in case" Amy said to Sharon as they stood in the hallway between the front door and the kitchen. "That's not necessary Amy" Sharon said as she shook her head. "I think the Lieutenant would beg to differ" Amy said to Sharon leaning in so only she could hear her. "Yeah, which one?" Sharon muttered under her breath as she continued walking towards the kitchen.

"Like I was telling the Captain, Chuck and his men are outside watching your house, in case this creep shows up again" Amy said to Andy. "Thanks, I appreciate that" Andy said back to her and then saw Sharon enter the kitchen to join them. She moved to where Provenza and Mike were standing. "So what do you think, Lieutenant?" Sharon said as she leaned up against the island. "He knows you and Flynn, that's for sure" Provenza said to her. "Perhaps he's been watching you two for a while" Mike said to them. That feeling was not settling for Sharon. 'Just what I need, another psycho coming after me and my family' she thought to herself. "If we go over the letter one line at a time, maybe we can find something else" Mike said to the team. Andy glanced at Sharon. "Mike, let's make a photocopy of the letter here and then send the letter to get printed. There's a copier in the den" Andy said to Mike and Mike left the kitchen.

"It's 4 o'clock now Captain, we either stay here and work on this, or we go to the office and work on this" Provenza said to Sharon. Sharon shook her head and then glanced over at Andy who was staring at the photocopy of the letter that Mike had made. "Flynn?" Provenza called to Andy. Andy shook his head. "I'll make some coffee" Andy said as he moved to where the coffee maker was and pulled down some mugs from the cabinet. Sharon joined Andy and took the grounds out of the coffee container. "Buzz is watching Matthew for us in the family room" Sharon said to Andy. Andy nodded as he poured the water from the pitcher to the coffee maker and then pressed a button to start it.

Everyone was gathered around the dining room table with the case files that Sharon had brought home with them spread out on the table. Mike had brought Sharon's laptop in to the room with them and was currently navigating through it. Sharon made her way over to the family room to speak with Buzz and to check on Matthew. "Buzz" she said as she walked up to him with a cup of coffee. He was sitting on one of the oversized chairs reading a book about photography. "Yes Captain?" he turned to her and put the book back down on the coffee table and grabbed the cup from her. "You can go home if you want to, the team is staying here and apparently going over a few things regarding the letter that was dropped off" Sharon said as she motioned with her hand what was going on back in the dining room. "I'm fine here Captain. Matthew's sleeping and so is the dog. I can stay" Buzz said to Sharon and Sharon smiled back.

After about an hour of going through the three files and Mike navigating the LAPD intranet from Sharon's computer, they stumbled upon something that stood out. "What if this guy was a newspaper reporter?" Julio stated to the team as he and Mike searched something on Sharon's laptop. Andy and Provenza both looked up from what they were reading. Sharon stood up and made her way behind Mike and Julio to look at the computer screen. "That could explain them knowing some things, especially if they are at the crime scenes" Mike said out loud as he brought a list up on her laptop. "This is a list of all known reporters registered with the LAPD to be at the crime scenes. This list goes back fifteen years" Mike said as he explained it to everyone. "We don't need it going back that far, Tao. Just back far enough to where the Captain and her FID goons showed up to our crime scenes" Provenza said to him. Sharon gave him a glare. "No offense, Captain" Provenza quickly apologized while Andy slapped him in his shoulder. "Ow!" Provenza said to Andy and Andy gave him his own glare.

"Can you print that list up, Mike?" Sharon asked Mike. "Yes, printing now" Mike said to Sharon as Sharon made her way back to the den to pick up the print out. "Now we at least have somewhere to start, possibly" Sharon said as she placed the list down on the table. "What's the basic strategy of Risk?" Andy asked the team. "Uh, I never played it as a kid" Julio stated as he glanced around the room. "Neither did I" Amy said. "I've played it with my kids before but, it's been a long time" Mike answered Andy. Andy looked over at Provenza. "Well, don't look at me. I was never in to board games growing up" Provenza said as he shook his head. Andy leaned his head back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. Sharon left the dining room and headed to the family room. "Buzz, do you know how to play Risk?" Sharon asked him as she walked in. "The board game?" Buzz asked back. "Yes" Sharon said as she nodded to him. "Yes, I've played it before" Buzz said to her. "Could you come in to the dining room and explain to everyone how to play it for me?" Sharon said to Buzz. "Of course, Captain, but what about" Buzz said as he got up from the chair. "He'll be fine" she said back to him and followed Buzz back to the dining room.

"Everyone, I found someone here who has played Risk before. Buzz please explain how to play" Sharon said to them. Buzz looked around at everybody. "Sure" he said and started explaining the game. "There's three basic strategy tips that a player must use. The first one is to control entire continents so that you can get the bonus armies to reinforce your current army. The second one is to watch their borders for buildups of armies from the enemy, which could mean an attack. And the third strategy tip is to build up armies on their own borders for better defense" Buzz said to them as Provenza rolled his eyes. "So what strategy is this psychopath using against me?" Andy said out loud to the team, but Buzz in particular. "It's hard to say right now, Lieutenant, since we don't really know much about this person" Buzz answered.

"So what is the main mission of the game?" Provenza asked Buzz. "Each player attacks according to the traditional rules of rolling dice and playing battle cards. The game ends when one player loses all their territories" Buzz said to them. "Territories?" Andy said and then glanced at Sharon. Sharon looked back at him and knew right away what they had to do. "Mike, call patrol officers to Nicole's address, tell them to wait outside their house. I'm going to call her right now and inform her of what's going on" Andy said as he pulled out his phone. "Lieutenant, get someone over to Emily's hotel. I want to make sure she is safe" Sharon said to Provenza as she dialed Emily's cell phone number. Provenza gestured for Julio to come up to him. Provenza whispered something in his ear and Julio nodded. He then headed towards the front door and left. Both Andy and Sharon looked at each other waiting for their daughters to answer their phones.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you everyone for the reviews on this story so far. I love reading your comments and what you think is going to happen next!

Chapter 7

"Dad? Why are you calling at 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday? Is everything alright?" Nicole answered her cell phone as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Nicole, listen to me. There's going to be a LAPD patrol car outside your house. It's just a precaution but we just need to make sure that you, Dean, and the boys are safe that's all" Andy said to his daughter over the phone. "Dad, what's going on?" Nicole said to him as she sat up in bed. "Uh, sweetheart, look, it's a long story and" Andy took a deep sigh before he continued "just promise me that you'll be safe and call me if anything strange happens, okay?" Andy said to his daughter. "Uh, sure Dad. We will" Nicole said and then hung up. She shook her head and went back to sleep. "Who was that?" Dean asked her. "My Dad, something came up with one of their cases and they are sending a patrol car to sit outside our house for a precaution" Nicole explained to him. "What?" Dean said as he sat up in bed.

"Emily?" Sharon said to her daughter over the phone. "Mom, what is it?" Emily said back to her. "Oh thank God you're alright" Sharon said to her as she looked over at where Andy was standing. "Listen, this case we caught has made a huge turn and just as a precaution we are sending a patrol car to your hotel this morning and Detective Sanchez is going to be there to bring you back here with us" Sharon said to her. "Mom, I have a performance this afternoon, I can't just miss it" Emily said to her. "I know, don't worry, you're not going to" Sharon said to her. There was a long pause. "Just please come back here with Julio, okay?" Sharon said to Emily. "Fine" Emily said and then hung up her phone.

Sharon then dialed another number. "Mom? What's going on" Ricky said as he answered his phone. "Ricky, is everything okay up by you?" Sharon said to him. "Yeah, Mom. Everything is fine. Why do you ask? You do know it's like early still right?" Ricky said to her. "Ricky, look something has come up here with one of our cases and I just want to make sure that you are okay" Sharon said to him. "I'm fine Mom" he said as he looked at his phone. "Why is Emily texting me saying that Mom is freaking out?" Ricky asked her. "It's good to hear your voice. What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Sharon asked him trying to change the subject. "Later today I am going to Fisherman's Wharf to hang out with some of my friends there. Mom, is everything okay?" Ricky said to Sharon. Sharon looked up and didn't see Andy anymore in the kitchen.

There was a loud banging on the door and Rusty awoke to answer it. "Geeze Andy! What that heck is going on?" Rusty said as he opened the door for him. "Sorry to wake you and Gus up" he said as he glanced over at Gus who was standing. "Look, you have ten minutes to get dressed and meet at the house" Andy said to them. "Wait a minute! What's going on here?" Rusty asked Andy again. "We are just making sure you stay safe" Andy said as he turned around and headed back to the house. Rusty looked outside the door at Andy walking away and then he saw all of the cars parked in the driveway and street and that gave him his answer.

Andy walked back in to the house and met Sharon in the kitchen. "Rusty and Gus are on their way down here" Andy said to her as he pulled her in for a hug. "Good" she mumbled into his chest. "I also got a hold of Charlie, he's fine. Did you call Ricky?" Andy asked her. "Yes, he's fine too" Sharon said to him. Just then, Rusty and Gus came in the back door of the house. "Hey, do you mind telling me what the hell is going on here?" Rusty asked them in a loud voice. "Rusty! You will not take that tone with us, and watch your language!" Sharon scolded him. "Sorry" he said quietly back to Sharon as he stood in front of them. "Something's come up in our latest case and we want to make sure our children are safe, that's all" Sharon said to Rusty as Gus moved to grab a cup of coffee. "Now, Matthew is in the family room with Buzz, feel free to join them both" Sharon said to Rusty and she walked away with Andy and headed to the dining room.

About a half hour later, Emily showed up with Julio and they entered the house. "Mom, what is going on?" Emily said to her as she walked in to the house. "Emily, thank goodness your safe" Sharon said as she hugged Emily. "Mom, do you mind telling me what's going on here because I have to get back to the theater by 1pm for my 3 o'clock show today" Emily said to Sharon. "Someone will drive you back to the theater, don't worry. Everyone is in the family room, why don't you join them. Feel free to help yourself with coffee or anything else you would like in the kitchen, okay?" Sharon said to her, avoiding Emily's question and then headed back to the dining room.

Provenza's phone rang. It was now 6:30 and patrol called him with the discovery of another body. This time, Sharon rolled out with the team to the crime scene but before she did, she spoke to Lieutenant Cooper. "Don't worry Captain, we got your family covered" Chuck said to her as she sat in Andy's car. When they arrived at the crime scene, they didn't know what to expect. The press had already set up outside the crime scene tape and patrol officers were trying to keep them at bay. "Julio, Amy check out our press friends" Sharon said as she made her way towards the crime scene. Andy followed her and helped her walk across the grassy area of the park. Provenza stood over the body as Kendall did his examination. "Same M.O. Captain, 12 inch serrated blade, multiple stab wounds, looks like the victim fought the killer as well" Kendall said as he held up the victim's fingers. Sharon bent down to take a closer look. The victim was blond as well, and next to her body was another note from the killer. Sharon put gloves on before handling the letter handed to her by the evidence technician. Andy placed gloves on as well. Sharon read the note and then scanned the area for where the press was standing. Buzz interrupted her. "Captain, there's security footage I pulled from the cameras here, we have a better picture of our guy" Buzz said to her. She looked over at Andy and nodded her head.

"Andy, I don't think you are ready to play. You're not taking me seriously enough, that's why I had to kill another one. Here name was Nicole, such a nice name. She was pretty, don't you think? Liked the alcohol a little too much, though. Too bad she couldn't stop like you did, did Sharon help change you Andy? I made my counter move, you're up now. Tick, tock" Andy read the letter and then locked eyes with Sharon. "Son of a bitch" he said out loud.

Sharon's phone rang while she was standing with Buzz and she saw it was Sergeant Elliot calling her. "Captain Flynn" she answered walking away from where Buzz was standing. "Captain, I just wanted to let you know about the thing we discussed earlier" Sergeant Elliot said to her. "Sergeant I'm currently at a crime scene, how'd you know I'd be up?" Sharon said. "Yes, I know. I heard the roll out. I've run into a road block here with Staples but I should find out something for you Monday morning" Sergeant Elliot said to her. "Okay, thank you Sergeant" Sharon said as she looked up at where Andy was standing. "No problem Captain" Sergeant Elliot said and then Sharon hung up her phone. Sharon then walked back towards Andy. She hated keeping her phone call with Sergeant Elliot a secret, but she wanted to know why FID was at the first crime scene. "I want Nicole, Dean and the boys to come over and stay at our house" he said to her as he walked away. Sharon nodded in agreement and pulled her phone out again. "Nicole, hi it's me. Look your father wanted me to call you" Sharon started to say to Nicole.

Andy looked over at Provenza who joined him underneath a tree Andy was leaning on. "This sick bastard thinks this is a game. That killing these innocent women, is a game!" Andy said, gritting his teeth, to Provenza. "What did I ever do to this sicko, huh?" Andy continued to vent as he started to pace now. Provenza just watched as Andy walked in circles. "I didn't give him the story, or the time of day, what?" Andy flailed his arms up in the air. "Calm down! Just calm down Flynn!" Provenza said to him having seen enough.

"Ma'am, we checked with the names of the press who checked in. Only one name didn't match the list that patrol had when the press first arrived" Julio said to Sharon as he showed her the list of names. "So where is this person now?" Sharon asked him. "We don't know ma'am" Julio said and then Sharon glanced over to where Andy and Provenza were standing by a tree. "Alright, let's regroup and head into the office. Buzz found some new footage and I want to see it on a bigger screen. Meanwhile, let's get the whereabouts of our missing press" Sharon said to Julio as she walked over to Andy and Provenza. She texted Rusty to see how everyone was. He replied back with an 'okay' and she closed her phone.

"Andy?" she whispered to him to get his attention as he was bent down besides the tree. She looked up at Provenza and he shook his head. "Andy?" she said a little louder and grabbed his hand in hers. "Come on. We are heading back to the office. Buzz found some new footage and we may have a possible name for our mystery killer" Sharon said to him as he walked with her back to their car. "What about Nicole?" Andy asked her as he got in to the car. "I called Nicole. Her, Dean, and the boys will be heading over to our house with a patrol escort in an hour" Sharon said as she sat in the driver's seat and drove them back to the office.

"You read the letter right?" Andy said to Sharon as she drove back to the office. "Yes, I did" she said as she pulled in to the parking garage. "What did I do to this person that he thinks he's going to get away with killing these innocent people?" Andy asked her. "I don't know, Andy" Sharon said as she parked the car and turned the engine off. "I'm going to nail this son of a bitch" Andy muttered as he shook his head and exited the car. Sharon got out and followed him. "Andy! Andy!" she called after him but he kept on walking towards the elevators. "Lieutenant!" she finally yelled out to him and he stopped to turn around. She walked up to him. "The last thing this case needs right now is you going rogue because of this killer" Sharon said to him as she looked him in the eye. He was staring back at her but it wasn't Andy staring back, the Andy that she knows and loves with all of her heart. No, the look in his eyes was old and familiar, back in the day where she was the head of IA and FID and they would butt heads all the time. "You don't have to worry about me going rogue, Captain. I'm going to protect the one's that I love by getting this guy. If he wants to play a game, then let's play" he sneered back at Sharon and then hit the elevator button.

The elevator doors opened and both of them stepped on. Andy walked to the back of the car and leaned at the back wall, eyes closed. Sharon stood opposite him and held on to the side rail. She hoped no one else would step inside the elevator with them. She knew Andy was very passionate about his work as a police detective, Lieutenant, father, and husband. She knew that he would do anything for the one's he loved and cared about. She was worried about how far this was going to take him. She knew that he would worry about his health last. His main focus was this killer. Andy stood there with his eyes closed, wishing he could take back what he had just said to Sharon. The look on her face when he said that spoke volumes to him. He just hoped it wasn't too late to apologize to her.

The elevators door opened to their floor and Sharon walked out first and headed in to the Murder Room. Andy followed a couple of steps behind her. 'Yep, might be too late' he thought to himself as the door closed in front of him. He opened the door to the Murder Room and saw everyone gathered around Provenza's desk. "Is Buzz ready with the video footage?" Sharon said as she came around and headed towards Provenza. "Yes Captain, all ready to go. We were just waiting for you and Flynn" Provenza said to her as he glanced over at Andy. "Good then. Let's go" Sharon said to them and they made their way over to the RACR room to view the new surveillance footage. Andy followed Provenza towards the room and Provenza stopped them before they entered. "Did you say something stupid?" Provenza asked and Andy didn't answer him, he just entered the room and sat down next to Sharon. "That's what I thought" Provenza said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 8

Matthew woke up to the TV playing softly and some music video was on. As he rubbed his eyes, he saw Rusty and Emily sitting down next to him and Gus on the oversized chair. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked them as he sat up rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Oh, we are here to watch you, of course!" Emily quickly said as she didn't know what to tell Matthew. Matthew looked around as he stood up. "Where's Mommy and Daddy?" Matthew asked the three of them. "Uh, they got called back in to work this morning, so it's just us for now" Rusty answered him. Matthew seemed okay with that answer as he started to walk towards the kitchen. The three of them all looked at each other and Gus got up and followed Matthew. "Hey Matthew, are you hungry?" Gus said to him as he joined him in the kitchen. "Yes!" Matthew said. "Ok, then why don't you sit at the table and I will whip up something for breakfast. Do you want pancakes?" Gus asked him as Emily and Rusty joined them in the kitchen.

Back at the PAB, the team was inside the RACR room watching the new video footage Buzz had collected from the second murder scene. Andy watched the video intensely as it played out. There was a person carrying a body, wrapped up in the rug that was also discovered at the scene. The person then walked off for about five minutes. The next camera picked up the same person and they were able to get a better look at the person's face. "There!" he alerted everyone to the clearer image. Buzz froze the image so that they could get a better look at the face. "That's him" he said again. The face that was staring back at them, nobody recognized. The man looked scary indeed, and a little off as Billy had described to them yesterday. He had scraggily hair and a moustache. "Can we run that image through our database?" Sharon asked Mike and Buzz. "Yes Captain, I will email the image to Mike and we can run it that way" Buzz said to Sharon and did just that.

Provenza's phone rang. It was Doctor Morales. "Yes Doctor, we will be right there" Provenza said as he hung up. "The second body is ready, Captain" Provenza said to Sharon as he turned in his chair to face her. "Lieutenant Flynn, please join me and Lieutenant Provenza at the morgue. The rest of you, see if we can get an ID on this guy, please" Sharon said as she stood up and walked out of the room. Mike, Buzz, Amy, and Julio all looked at each other as the other three left the room. "I think Flynn and the Captain had words with each other, that's why she's in a mood" Julio said to the three of them as they walked back to the Murder Room. "I don't think it's any of our business. Let's just focus on doing our jobs here" Mike said back to Julio.

At the morgue, Sharon looked at the victim as Doctor Morales showed to Andy and Provenza the same measurements of the stab wounds. The victim was definitely Andy's type of women he used to date in the past. She shook her head. She didn't want the past interfering with her thoughts on the current case. "So yes I would say this woman was killed identically like the previous one" Doctor Morales stated to them. Andy glanced over at Sharon who was looking at the body. He wondered how much of a hole he had dug himself with her and whether or not he could get out of it. "Oh, and the DNA test came back on your first victim. I am currently running the same test on this victims fingers to see if it matches, which I'm 99% sure it will" Doctor Morales said to Provenza as he seemed to be the only one paying attention to him. He handed him the print out sheet. "I hope you find this guy really soon, Lieutenant" Doctor Morales said. "You and me both, Doctor" Provenza said back to him as he glanced at both Andy and Sharon.

Back at the house, Gus was in the middle of making breakfast when the doorbell rang. Emily and Rusty both looked at each other. "I'll get it" Rusty said as he walked to the front door. He peeked out the side window and saw Nicole, Dean, and the two boys standing on the front porch. He opened the door and greeted them. "Welcome to the Flynn fortress!" he said to Nicole and she entered the house along with Dean and the boys. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" Nicole asked Rusty as she gave him a hug. Rusty shook his head. "We are making breakfast in the kitchen, you're welcome to join us" he said to them as they came inside. Rusty locked the door behind them and followed them to the kitchen. "Hi Emily!" the boys said in unison and were excited to see her. Matthew was also excited to see them and greeted all of them as they entered the kitchen. "Hi Emily, it's so nice to see you again" Nicole said to Emily as the two of them hugged. They all gathered in the kitchen and asked each other if anyone knew what was happening.

As Sharon, Andy, and Provenza walked back in to the Murder Room, Mike was sitting at his desk. "We got a match, Captain!" he said to her as a picture popped up on his screen. "Who is he?" Sharon asked as she walked over to his desk. "Johnny Vibersy, age 49. Resides in LA, big surprise there, works as a reporter for The Los Angeles Journal" Mike said to her. Andy and Provenza came around to stand behind Sharon. "Ma'am, his name is on the list that we printed back at your house" Julio said to Sharon as he handed that list back to her. "And he matches the list from this morning" Sharon said to them as she looked around at each of them. "What's his last known address?" Andy asked Mike. Mike looked it up on his computer. "307 S. Norton Avenue Apartment 11" Mike said. "Does he have any weapons registered to him?" Provenza asked. "Not that I can tell" Mike stated as he looked up from his computer.

Just then, Andy's phone rang. He looked at the caller ID but he didn't recognize the number. He looked at Mike who called in a trace on the phone call to Andy's phone. He then glanced at Sharon who looked back at him and nodded. Andy answered his phone and placed it on speaker. "Hello?" he said. "Hello Andy. I see that I got your attention this morning" they said to him. "Yeah, you got it" Andy said as Mike gestured for him to keep the person on the line. "I think you're slipping Andy because I seem to be one step ahead of you all the time. Do you think it was a smart move to put all of your children in one place?" they said and Andy's face dropped. "Listen here you sick bastard! I know who you are, Johnny. Now you leave my family out of this" Andy said to the guy. Sharon pulled out her phone and called Rusty. Amy contacted Chuck to make sure everything was okay. "You don't know anything, Andy. I've followed your career, I've reported at all of your crime scenes and you would think you'd give me an exclusive, just once" Johnny said over the phone. There was a small pause. "But I got your attention now" Johnny said and then hung up the phone.

"We narrowed down the location of the call to your cell phone. It came from the corner of 6th and Commonwealth" Mike said. "Wait, where?" Andy said to Mike. Mike showed Andy on the map the exact location. "Children Services Courthouse for LA County is there" Andy said and then glanced at Sharon who was on the phone. "Rusty and them are fine" Sharon said as she hung up. "Chuck is not reporting anything unusual at your house, they got the place covered" Amy said. "We traced the call back to this location" Mike said as he pointed to the map for Sharon to see. "Let's go" she said as everyone grabbed their gear and headed out.

"He's probably long gone by now, hopped on a bus or something" Andy said to Sharon as they drove over to the location. "Like he said, always one step ahead of me" he added in a huff. Sharon wanted to tell him so many things that were running through her head at the moment. "I mean how long has this guy been following me?" he asked her. "Long enough to know we fought way back when at the crime scenes" Sharon said quietly to him. As soon as she said those words she knew they came out wrong. "I'm sorry Andy, that didn't come out right" Sharon said to him. "No, no need to apologize" Andy said abruptly as he pulled up to the location. The team spanned out in every direction, each of them carrying a picture of Johnny.

Andy and Sharon headed inside the building and spoke to the guard at the front desk. "Have you seen this person hanging around here this morning?" Andy asked him. "No sir, no one has been here looking like that guy" the guard told Andy and Andy turned around to walk out of the building. "Thank you" Sharon said to the guard and left to join Andy outside. Andy met up with the rest of the team and Sharon joined them in front of the building. "Any luck?" Andy asked the rest of them. "No" Amy said as she shook her head. "No one saw anyone looking like him" Julio said.

"Captain, why don't we head over to Johnny's last known address and see what we can find there?" Provenza suggested to Sharon, seeing how defeated Andy looked at that moment. "We don't have a warrant, Lieutenant" Sharon said to him, reminding him of the rules. "We don't need one to do a knock and talk" Provenza answered her. Sharon nodded in agreement and the team headed to Johnny's address on Norton Avenue.

Andy huffed as they waited at the stop light. He knew that he needed to say something to Sharon, to make things right again but it seemed like every time he opened his mouth, his brain told him to say one thing but he said the complete opposite. He glanced over at Sharon. She was looking out her window. Andy was about to say something but the light turned green and he started to drive. Sharon looked down at her hands and was twirling her wedding ring around her finger. She took a deep breath and then spoke. "Andy, I don't want us to be mad at each other" Sharon said to him. "I don't want to be mad either but it seems like every time I tried to say something to you, regarding this mess, it comes out wrong" Andy said back to her as he continued to drive them to the next location. She smiled at him. "You know that I will always love you, right?" he said to her as they pulled up to Johnny's apartment. "Yes" she said to him and he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She smiled and he smiled back at her. They got out of their car and put their vests on. Then they joined Provenza and Buzz at the front of the apartment complex.

"Amy and Julio are in the back with Mike covering that exit, if he's even here" Provenza said to Sharon as they approached them. "Okay good. Let's knock and see if he's home" Sharon said as they proceeded to enter the apartment complex. They made their way up to the second floor and down the hall to apartment number 11. Andy knocked on the door. "LAPD, we'd like to talk to you Mr. Vibersy" Andy said through the door. He then leaned up against the door to hear if there was any movement inside but he didn't hear anything. Andy knocked on the door again. "LAPD!" he said. A door down the hall opened to reveal an older lady, Provenza walked over to her. "Excuse me ma'am but do you know who lives in that apartment over there?" he asked her. "Oh, that's Johnny, always with the ladies that one" she replied to him. "Oh really? Do you know if he's home right now?" Provenza asked her. "No, I haven't seen him this morning, but last night he had a girl with him in his apartment" she informed Provenza. Sharon overheard this and walked over to the older woman. "Did she look like this?" Sharon asked her as she showed the woman the DMV photo of their latest victim. "Yes that's her" she said. "Thank you ma'am, please stay in your apartment for the moment" Provenza said to her and then rejoined Sharon and Andy in front of Johnny's apartment.

"Sir, we're all set here at the back by the fire escape" Julio said to Provenza over the phone. "Ask them if they can see inside at all" Andy whispered to Provenza. "Julio, can you see inside the apartment?" Provenza asked him as they waited outside the door. "No, sir" Julio said as he tried to see through the windows but couldn't. "Dammit" Provenza said. "Alright, Captain your call here" Provenza said as he turned to Sharon. "Buzz, stand behind us" Sharon said to Buzz and he moved around them. "This could be the crime scene, we do have a positive ID on the second victim being seen with Johnny" Sharon said to her two Lieutenants. "Correct Captain" Provenza said. Sharon nodded to Andy. "Julio, we're going in. Stand by" Provenza said and then hung up his phone. Andy moved closer to the door and then kicked the door open.

Andy entered the apartment first with his gun drawn and then Sharon and Provenza followed him while Buzz stayed outside to wait for the all clear to be called. Mike came around to the front of the building and made his way upstairs to join Buzz. Amy and Julio waited on the fire escape until Provenza unlocked one of the windows and they opened and joined in the search. Andy moved towards the bedroom area and cleared that room. Sharon joined him and they opened the closet door. Andy moved the clothes to one side of the closet to reveal pictures on the wall. "Oh my gosh, Andy!" Sharon said as pictures of them through the years, crime scenes, and newspaper clippings were taped to the back wall of his closet. Andy stared at the pictures while Sharon yelled "Clear!". She heard Amy and Julio yell clear as well and then walked out to the hallway. "Get Buzz in here now!" Sharon told Amy and she nodded. Julio was in the bathroom. "Captain, in here" he said to Sharon. Sharon made her way to the bathroom and saw all the blood in the bathtub. "Captain?" Buzz said to her. Sharon turned around. "Buzz, I want you to start filming everything inside this apartment. Concentrate in the closet in the bedroom and here in the bathroom. "Yes Captain" Buzz said and started filming.

Sharon walked out and went back towards the bedroom where she left Andy. Provenza was now in there with him. "Captain, I called patrol to this location along with SID, they should be here soon" Provenza said to Sharon and Sharon nodded. "What is this guy up to, how long has he" Andy started to say but then his phone rang. He looked at it and it was the same number that called him before. He answered it. "Hello?" Andy said as he answered his phone. "Andy, sorry I'm not at my apartment with you and your team, including your lovely Captain, or wife as circumstances have changed" Johnny said to him over the phone. "Listen you sick bastard, what kind of game are you playing here?" Andy asked him. "I already told you the game, Andy. I'm choosing to spread out my army while you still have yours bunched up. I don't know what strategy that is, but if it works for you" Johnny said to him. "Since I already know where you're at, why don't you guess where I'm at" Johnny said as he laughed in his phone. This made Andy more mad. He glanced at Sharon who was on her phone speaking to Lieutenant Cooper. "I'll give you a clue. I thought you preferred blondes, Andy. But now I see that brunettes are your type" Johnny said to Andy. "How is that a clue?" Andy sneered in to the phone. Johnny laughed and hung up the phone.

Andy was ready to throw his phone into the wall but stopped. "Lieutenant Cooper says everything is fine at the house. There's been no sign of Johnny over in the area. He also told me that they drove Emily back to the theater for her show and two of his guys are staying there with her" Sharon said to him. He nodded to her. "That's good" he said. "What did he say to you?" Sharon asked him as he was trying to calm down. "He's going to kill someone again. This time it's going to be someone with brunette hair not blonde as he said my type has changed" Andy said to Sharon and Provenza. "I don't know where he is. He's not coming here, I know that for sure. He knows we are at his apartment. Told me so over the phone" Andy continued. "Mike, did you get anything on that trace?" Provenza asked Mike. "They traced it back to the metro stop at Hollywood and Western" Mike said as he hung up his phone. "Where is he going?" Andy asked them but they didn't have an answer.

They gathered up all of the evidence from Johnny's apartment and as soon as patrol and SID were on site, they left and returned to the PAB. "His picture has been distributed to patrol officers in every division, Captain" Chief Howard said to Sharon as she and her team got off of the elevator on the ninth floor. "Chief, I didn't expect you to be here on a Saturday" Sharon said as he walked with them in to the Murder Room. "Yeah, well there seems to be a killer on the loose targeting one of your own, Captain" Chief Howard stated to her as they stood by the Murder Board. "And apparently, he's had quite the obsession" Chief Howard said as Julio and Amy placed the pictures they found up on the board. "Let me know if you need anything, Captain" Chief Howard said as he exited their office.

Andy took a moment and pulled out his phone to text Nicole and Rusty. He wanted to know how things were going. Nicole texted him back right away. 'Dad, can you please tell me what is going on? Why are there officers set up outside your house? Rusty let a Lieutenant Cooper in the house not too long ago. He's sitting in the kitchen right now with Rusty and Gus. Dean is upstairs playing with Matthew, Colin, and Avery'. Andy took a deep breath and sighed. He didn't know how to explain it to her. 'There's a crazy man who wants to play a game with me. He's killed two people already and I just want to keep you all safe' he texted back to her. He figured she would understand. Rusty texted him back. 'Lieutenant Cooper came inside the house. We're fine. Boys upstairs playing. Nicole talking with Gus and me' Rusty wrote. 'Good' Andy texted back.

As the team put the pictures that they found at Johnny's apartment on the board, Sharon looked at each one of them. There were old newspaper clippings pertaining to dead bodies that then Detective Flynn investigated. There were photographs from her time in FID at a crime scene with Lieutenant Flynn. Newspaper headline about the crimes they investigated. There was also recent photos of the two of them at the courthouse. 'What does this guy have against Andy?' Sharon thought to herself as she glanced over at Andy.

They stayed at work for a couple of more hours going through all of the evidence they collected at Johnny's apartment. "He must have that knife with him, if they didn't find it at his apartment" Provenza said. "Captain, I notified Robbery/Homicide about the second victim and they are notifying the next of kin, that way we can fully concentrate on catching this guy" Mike said to Sharon as he hung up his phone. "Thank you Mike" Sharon said. She looked at the Murder Board for a second. "Does Johnny own any other properties or buildings in the area?" Sharon asked. "No ma'am, just the apartment we were at today" Julio answered her. "Well, he needs a place to stay for the night" Andy said to them. "Captain, patrol is out canvassing the area. There's an all-points bulletin out on this guy. Let's go home, get some rest, and start fresh tomorrow" Provenza said to Sharon as he pulled her to the side away from the group. He knew that Andy wanted to continue searching for this guy the whole night, if possible. "Okay, Lieutenant" Sharon said reluctantly as she turned around and walked towards her office.

"Guys, I suggested to the Captain that we pick up tomorrow. Patrol knows to call us if they find Johnny and I for one, could use some sleep that's not interrupted in the early morning" Provenza said to everyone. He walked over to Andy who was sitting at his desk. "Go home, get some rest, and hug your wife and kids" Provenza told Andy as Andy just looked at him. "That's an order!" he said as he pointed to him. Everyone left leaving Andy and Sharon still in the Murder Room. Andy stood up and knocked on Sharon's door. "I was ordered to go home, get some rest, and hug you and the kids" Andy said as he entered Sharon's office. The look on his face was that of a lost puppy dog. Sharon laughed as she closed her laptop on her desk. She put her things in her bag and walked over to where Andy was standing. "Well, I wouldn't want you disobeying an order now" she said to him as she grabbed his hand and they walked out of the office and headed back home.

When they got home, as soon as they entered the kitchen area, everyone was bombarding them with questions. Emily was back from her performance, Nicole and Dean were in the kitchen, and Rusty was there as well. Gus and all of the kids were in the family room watching a movie. "Look I know you all have questions regarding what's going on and we would love to tell you" Andy said to them. "We pretty much only know that this Johnny guy has some sort of vengeance against me, said I did him wrong and never gave him the story he wanted. He killed two people and we are currently out there looking for him. I want you to know that you are not in danger, and are very well protected, okay?" Andy said to Rusty, Nicole, Dean, and Emily as Sharon stood by him. "Okay Dad" Nicole said as she came up to Andy and gave him a hug. Andy and Sharon then went in to the family room and Matthew came up to them and gave them a hug. "Mommy! Daddy!" he said to them. "Missed you" Andy said back to Matthew. Andy sat down on the couch and all three of the boys were climbing on top of him. Sharon smiled at the sight and then turned her attention to making dinner. When she returned to the kitchen, she saw their kids gathered around the kitchen sink, stove, and island making dinner for everyone. She smiled at the sight and wiped a tear from her eye.

After dinner, Lieutenant Cooper came up to Sharon. "The night crew is here Captain" Lieutenant Cooper said to Sharon as he checked his phone. "They'll be outside if you need them. Here is Sergeant Ray's phone number, just in case" Chuck said to Sharon as he walked out the front door. "Thank you so much, Lieutenant" Sharon said to him as he left and she locked the front door. The rest of the family was in the family room, gathered around the TV watching a movie while Sharon walked back in to the kitchen and found Andy sitting at the kitchen table. Moxie was there sitting next to him on the floor as he was petting the dog. Sharon walked over to him and rubbed his back. "Are we okay?" he said to her barely above a whisper. "Yes, of course we are, Andy" she said back to him and leaned down to give him a kiss. They broke apart when the need for air became apparent. "I love you" he said to her as he looked in her eyes. "I need you to know that, Sharon" he said to her as he caressed her cheeks. Sharon leaned in and kissed him again. "I know you do" Sharon said as she broke their kiss.

He walked with her to the family room, making sure all of the doors to the house were locked. "Is everyone okay with the sleeping arrangements here?" Sharon asked everyone. "Yes, the boys are going to sleep in Matthew's room with him. Emily has one of the guest rooms and Dean and I have the other guest room upstairs" Nicole said to them. "And Gus and I are fine with sleeping down here" Rusty said. "Okay, good" Sharon said to them. The movie they were watching was over and everyone headed to their respected rooms. The boys were happy they were having a sleepover and Moxie stayed in the room with them. "Good night sweetheart" Sharon said to Emily as she closed the door to the guest room. "Good night, Nicole, Dean" Sharon said as she turned around to the other guest room and they closed their door. Andy was still downstairs talking with Rusty and Gus. "Are you sure you both are going to be fine down here?" Andy said to them in the family room. "Yes, Andy, no problem" Rusty said. "We're fine, Lieutenant" Gus said to Andy. "Okay, good night then" Andy said to them and then headed upstairs.

Andy said good night to everyone upstairs and headed into their bedroom where Sharon was all ready for bed. Andy got himself ready and then climbed into bed and moved next to Sharon. Sharon moved over so that her head was resting on his shoulder and he held her close to him. Andy was rubbing her arms slowly up and down and could tell that Sharon was falling asleep. "Go to sleep, Sharon. I've got this watch" Andy whispered to her. "You need to sleep too. The house is secure, Andy. There are people surrounding it, it's probably securer than the White House right now" she said back to Andy as she coaxed him to get some sleep by rubbing circles on his chest. "I can't sleep, I'm too wound up right now" he said to her, being as honest as possible. "Please try, Andy" she said to him as she closed her eyes and continued to rub circles on his chest. Andy laid there thinking about everything that's been going on and trying to rack his brain about where Johnny would turn up. Sleep finally took over about an hour later and they both laid in bed holding each other.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Just a friendly warning that this chapter has some very intense moments.

Chapter 9

His phone was ringing and he could hear it but he couldn't reach it as something was holding him back. Andy opened his eyes and saw Sharon sleeping on top of him and he smiled to himself. His phone was still ringing and he hated to disturb Sharon. He glanced over at the clock by their bed. 4:45 it said. He carefully positioned Sharon off of his body and reached over to grab his phone off of the night stand. "Yeah, Provenza what is it?" Andy said as he answered the phone. "There's another dead body discovered, same M.O." Provenza said back to him. Andy sighed. Sharon stirred and woke up. "What is it, honey?" she whispered to him. "Text me the address, I'll meet you there" Andy said and then hung up his phone. He then looked over at Sharon. "He killed another one" Andy said to her as he got up and started to get dressed. "I'm coming with you" Sharon said as she got up as well. "No, you don't have to be there. It's just a crime scene, Sharon" Andy said to her as she moved in to the closet next to him and grabbed some clothes to wear. "Nonsense, besides I'm your Captain, and your boss. You can't give me orders" she said back to him, gave him a smile, and then closed the door to their bathroom leaving him standing in the bedroom, alone. He hung his head and shook it. He then got dressed.

They made their way downstairs and Sharon went in to the family room and saw that both Rusty and Gus were up. "Hey, did we wake you guys?" Sharon said to them. "No, actually I had to get up early because I need to head in to the restaurant before it opens at 7" Gus said to her. "What's going on?" Rusty asked Sharon. "We got called out again, another body" Sharon said to Rusty. "Same person?" Rusty asked her as he followed her in to the kitchen. Andy was standing there with his keys in his hand waiting for Sharon. "We don't know yet. Anyway, if you could tell everyone later. We will keep in touch, okay?" Sharon said to Rusty. "Okay, um, be careful" Rusty said to the two of them as they headed out the back door. Rusty sat down at the kitchen table and sighed.

As they pulled out of their driveway, Andy pulled up next to one of the cars stationed outside their home. Sharon rolled down her window and Sergeant Ray did the same. "Everything okay, Captain?" Sergeant Ray asked them. "We got called out to a crime scene, Sergeant" Sharon said to him. "Don't worry Captain, Lieutenant, we got your house covered" Sergeant Ray said to them and then they drove off towards the crime scene. "Where was the body found?" Sharon asked Andy as he drove them to the scene. "Between Hawthorne and Selma, in a vacant lot behind a building" Andy said as he turned on Hollywood Boulevard. "His picture is plastered all over the place, why can't we find him?" Andy said frustrated with everything. They pulled up to the scene and parked the car. As he and Sharon ducked underneath the crime scene tape, Andy looked around at the area. They walked up to Provenza who was speaking with a patrol officer. "Ah, Captain didn't know you'd be coming too" Provenza said to Sharon. "Yes, I decided to tag along" Sharon said as they proceeded to where the body was discovered.

"Uh, before you look at the body, you need to know that something was discovered on it" Provenza warned both of them as they walked over to the body. "What was discovered?" Andy asked him. "He wrote the Captain's name on the body" Provenza said to Andy as they came up to the body. Kendall was there and the body was covered with a sheet. "Let me see" Andy said to Kendall as he leaned down and Kendall pulled the sheet away. Andy stared at the body and Sharon looked as well. "Captain?" Provenza said to Sharon and Sharon walked over to where Provenza was leading her. "Time of death?" Andy asked Kendall. "Maybe two hours ago?" Kendall said and then covered the body back up. Andy stood back up and looked over to where Sharon had gone to. He saw her talking with Provenza.

Andy then looked around to see where the police line was and saw a crowed gathering. He kept getting closer to the crowd and started to scan for Johnny there. He saw a man, similar to Johnny standing there across from him. "Hey! Hey you!" Andy called out to the guy. The guy then turned around and started running away. Andy chased after him along with two patrol officers. Andy chased him all the way to Highland and Hollywood where the two patrol officers tackled the guy. Andy pulled up and he was out of breath. The two patrol officers pulled the guy up, and Andy got a better look at him. "That's not him" he said to the patrol officers and started to walk away. The patrol officers brought the guy back to the crime scene and placed him in a patrol car. "Dammit!" Andy cursed as he stopped on the sidewalk to catch his breath. He was leaning over his knees when he heard someone come up to him. "I'm fine" he said as he thought it was one of his colleagues.

"Guess again, Andy" Johnny said to Andy as he shoved a gun in his face. Andy looked at the gun and then looked up at Johnny. "Slowly come back up, that's it" Johnny said to him as he reached and took Andy's gun out of his holster. "What do you want?" Andy asked him. "You and I are going to take a nice walk over here and then we are going to slowly drive away" Johnny said to Andy. Staring down the barrel of a gun was not what Andy wanted to do this morning. He knew if he got into a struggle with this guy, that it could not end well. Andy did what he was told and walked with Johnny. Johnny directed him over to a car and he got inside. Before Johnny got in the driver's side, Andy quickly turned his phone on vibrate and dialed the last number that called him. He then turned the volume down so Johnny wouldn't hear. Johnny then got in the car and started to drive, keeping the gun pointed at Andy.

Sharon looked back to see where Andy was at but didn't see him anymore. "Where's Andy?" Sharon said out loud to Kendall and anyone else in the area. "I don't know Captain, he was here a second ago and then he headed over to where the crowd was building" Kendall said as two other technicians moved the body. She turned around with the worried look in her eyes and Provenza knew as well. Just then, Provenza's phone rang and it was Andy. "Hang on Captain" Provenza said and then he answered his phone. "Flynn, where are you?" Provenza said over the phone but didn't hear just Flynn's voice. Provenza walked over to Sharon. "I think he's in trouble" he said to her as he placed the phone on speaker and they listened.

"So where are you taking me?" Andy asked Johnny as Johnny drove them down Hollywood Boulevard. "Oh, don't worry Andy. We'll be there soon enough" Johnny said as he drove. Andy just hoped his phone wouldn't die on him and that the call to Provenza would stay connected long enough for them to trace it. "You know, why go through all of this? Why did you kill those innocent women?" Andy asked him. "I told you why. You ignored me, and kept ignoring me, so I needed to do something to get your attention" Johnny said back to Andy. 'Great, this guy really is psycho and now he has two guns' Andy thought to himself as they continued to drive.

"Mike, can you trace Andy's phone? It looks like Flynn was stupid and our murderer just took him" Provenza said to Mike who came over to where they were standing. Sharon glanced at Provenza and shook her head at the comment he made. Mike opened his phone and began a trace. Buzz then came over to where they were standing. "Captain, I got him taking the Lieutenant on video" Buzz told Sharon. "What?!" Sharon said to him. Buzz then played back the video footage and Sharon watched as she saw Andy chase someone from the crowd. "That's what I got, but here's surveillance footage I tapped in to" Buzz said and then he played that video. It showed Andy on the corner of Hollywood and Highland coming to a stop and he was catching his breath. They then see Johnny come up to Andy and stick a gun in his face. Sharon's heart dropped when she saw that. Then they watched Andy walk over with Johnny off the screen. "That's all I have" Buzz told Sharon. "Thank you Buzz" Sharon said to him as she pulled out her phone.

"Chief, sorry to wake you but we need back up right away, Lieutenant Flynn has been kidnapped by our killer" Sharon said to Chief Howard over the phone. "We are tracing the phone right now, Andy kept an open line" Sharon explained to Chief Howard. "Hopefully, his battery doesn't die" Mike said quietly to Provenza as Sharon kept talking with Chief Howard. "You said to let you know if I need anything with this case, Chief. Well, I need my Lieutenant back" Sharon said in a shaky voice and then she handed her phone to Provenza. "Here, I can't right now" she said to him. Provenza took her phone. "Yes Chief" he said and then listened to what he was telling him as he kept his eye on Sharon. Sharon was now watching the trace on Mike's phone, silently praying that Andy would be okay.

Andy looked out the window and saw them pulling up to an industrial park near downtown. He knew exactly where they were and hopefully, so did Sharon and the rest of the team. Johnny got out of the car. "Get out!" Johnny said to Andy as he also stepped out of the car. It was still dark out and the sunlight was just skimming the surface. Johnny came around to the other side of the car and grabbed Andy by his jacket. "Come on, we're going inside" Johnny told him and they walked into one of the buildings. "Do you own this place?" Andy asked him. "No, it's abandoned, no one comes down here anymore" Johnny said to Andy as he shoved him inside. There was a table and chairs set up in the middle of the room. "I thought you said no one comes here" Andy said to him gesturing to the table and chairs. "Oh, Andy I set that up for us, you see. One step ahead of you" Johnny said to him. "Have a seat" he pointed to the chair, all the while pointing the gun at Andy. Andy took a seat. "So what do you want to talk about?" Andy asked him as Johnny took the seat across from him at the table. Johnny just smiled at him.

"The signal stopped!" Mike yelled out to everyone gathered. "Where did it stop, Tao?" Julio asked him. "Looks like at an industrial park, between Alameda and Mill streets and 6th and 7th streets" Mike said. "Chief Howard is sending Commander McGinnis and her SWAT team to the location we tell them to go to. Now, I don't want anyone going off on their own to rescue Flynn. We wait for SWAT, understood?" Provenza said to everyone. "Yes" Julio said and then they headed for their cars. "Captain, Buzz is going to drive you over there in your car" Provenza told Sharon as they were walking. Sharon got in and waited for Buzz to get into the driver's seat. "We're going to get Flynn, Captain. I promise" Provenza said to her and then they drove off. They went lights and sirens through the streets of Los Angeles and when they got closer to the location, they went silent as they pulled up and waited for SWAT to show up.

Sharon looked out her window at the area where they pulled up. It was a desolate industrial park and there was no one around. There was one building that had a door and they assumed Andy and Johnny were inside there. She hated waiting for SWAT but knew they were the professionals in these types of situations. The thought of what Andy was going through right now went through her mind and she shook her head. "Captain?" Buzz said to her. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes before she turned to face him. "Yes, Buzz?" she said to him. "He's going to be fine" he said although he didn't know what to say or if he could guarantee that at all. She debated contacting their kids at this moment. She didn't want them to worry if she told them. But on the other hand, she wanted them to know in case something did happen. She pulled out her phone and quickly texted Rusty. 'Tell the adults that Andy's been taken by the murderer we've been chasing. Tell more later'. She then placed her phone in her pocket and got out of the car to join her team. "What's the ETA on SWAT, Lieutenant?" Sharon said to Provenza. "Twenty minutes" Provenza said back. Sharon stood next to Provenza as they waited. "I sent Julio and Amy over there to look around. "Sir, there's only one entrance into the building. This place looks abandoned" Julio said to Provenza as they came back to the cars. Provenza nodded. He was still holding his phone. Andy's phone was still connected with his and they could hear everything that was being said.

"You do know that my division is going to notice me missing and they probably are going to start looking for me, if they haven't already" Andy said to Johnny as they sat at the table. "Oh, I'm counting on it, Andy. But they are going to be too late. You see, this is the end of our little game. I win, you lose" Johnny said to Andy. Andy looked at him and hoped that Sharon and everyone else was coming soon for him because he was really getting tired of listening to this guy. "You know what it's like to lose, right Andy? You've hit rock bottom, what twenty years ago about?" Johnny said to him as he got up and started walking around facing Andy. "I've lost a lot, as well" Johnny said to him. Then he stuck the gun in Andy's face and then kept walking around him. "But you also know what it's like to win, am I right? Sharon, she's quite something isn't she?" Johnny said to Andy as he got up to his face again. "You leave her out of this!" Andy spat back at him. Johnny laughed. "Oh, did I hit a nerve? There's something you're not telling me" Johnny said back to Andy and he just sat there. "What's the matter Andy, are you out of her league?" Johnny said as he sat back down across from him.

Sharon looked at Provenza who didn't say anything and then she glanced down at the ground. "Where the hell is SWAT at?" she cursed. Just as she said that SWAT pulled up. "Finally" Provenza said as he looked over at Sharon. She looked broken, almost, but showed no emotion other than previously in the car and once at the crime scene. He knew that her heart was breaking for Andy right now but they had an important job to do, getting him out alive. He walked over to where Commander McGinnis was and met her outside her vehicle. An ambulance pulled up as well on stand-by. Sharon was still holding Provenza's phone as she walked up to meet the commander and her team. "Ann" Sharon said to her. "Sharon, I'm sorry to hear Lieutenant Flynn was taken hostage" McGinnis said to her and Sharon nodded. "We have an open line" Provenza explained to her. "Is the suspect talking with us?" McGinnis asked. "No, we don't think he knows Flynn's phone is on" Provenza said.

"We got the blueprints of this building and it looks like there's only one way in and out" McGinnis said to Sharon and the rest of her team. "Now, my men are going to set up point here and here. We'll need eyes inside first before we do anything" she explained to them. "Captain, your people can be behind my team, but my team takes the lead on this one" McGinnis stated to Sharon. "Of course" she answered back. "Alright, let's move out. I need eyes on the suspect right away" McGinnis called out to her team and they dispersed and took their points.

"Captain" Provenza said to Sharon. She turned around and looked at him. "Don't you dare tell me to stay here and wait, Lieutenant" Sharon said to him. "That thought never crossed my mind" he said back to her as he shrugged his shoulders. They continued on behind a SWAT team to a location across from the door. Another team set up behind a car, closer to the door and Julio and Amy were with that team. Buzz was told to stay at a safe distance which he willingly did. Mike was up with one of the teams on the roof.

"Oh, what's she gonna do when you don't come home tonight? Huh?! She'll be the grieving widow, taking care of Matthew all by herself" Johnny said to Andy as he stood back up. "How do you know about Matthew?" Andy said back to him. Sharon could still hear their conversation. She silently hoped to herself that Andy didn't do or try anything stupid because this Johnny person sounded unstable. "How do you know about Matthew?" Andy asked him again.

"Funny thing, I've followed your career, Andy from Robbery/Homicide to Priority Homicide to Major Crimes. I covered the crimes that you solved and always tried to get the story first, but you never gave me those exclusive ones. I tried and I tried but never was good enough. So then I made it a point to get to know you better. Found out about your daughter and son and then when you went through your divorce, very sad. It was a joy to see you so furious whenever IA would walk on to the crime scene and your team was there. Then later, the way you and the Captain were getting along, almost too well. I was at the courthouse after she shot that guy, felt sorry for her and tried to get an inside scoop but, the LAPD had no comments. All I wanted was the story, but you wouldn't give me the time of day, Andy. So I needed to get your attention" Johnny said to him as he scratched his head.

"By killing innocent women?" Andy said to him. "It brought you to me, didn't it?" Johnny said to him as he walked over to him and placed the gun in his face. "And I got your attention now" Johnny said as he looked at Andy and then backed off. Andy looked back at Johnny and then they heard a noise on the roof. "What's that?" Johnny said. "Pigeons" Andy said to him. "No, that's too loud for pigeons Andy. Oh, I think your police friends have finally arrived" Johnny said as he walked back to Andy and sat down.

"I got eyes on our suspect, he's holding the Lieutenant at gun point and they are sitting down at a table with chairs" Perez said over the radio ,which Sharon also heard. Her heart was in her throat right now, pounding away. Provenza glanced at her. "Everyone hold your positions, only when you have a green light do you take the suspect out, is that clear?" McGinnis called over the radio. "10-4" Stuart answered along with everyone else over the radio. McGinnis glanced over at where Sharon was. "The suspect is getting up and walking around to the Lieutenant" Perez stated. "Captain, I think we need to establish a line of communication, see what he wants" McGinnis said to Sharon. Sharon didn't know if that was a good thing to do because Johnny was unpredictable and she didn't want Andy to get harmed. "Hang up Provenza's phone and you dial his number on your phone, then Lieutenant Flynn's phone will ring again" McGinnis said to Sharon. Sharon glanced at Provenza and did exactly that. She opened her phone, ignoring the messages from their kids and dialed Andy's number.

A couple of seconds later, Andy's phone vibrated. Johnny heard something buzzing as he looked around. "What's that?" Johnny asked him as he pointed the gun back at Andy. "My phone, they are trying to establish communication with you, Johnny" Andy said as calm as he could be. "Well, I don't want to talk to them" Johnny said as he looked at Andy. Andy reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. "What are you doing!" Johnny said, shaking the gun at Andy. Andy placed his hands up. "Whoah Johnny, I'm just getting my phone out, that's all" Andy said as he placed the phone on the table and kept his hands up. "It's going to keep vibrating until you answer it, Johnny" Andy said to him.

"Perez, what do you see?" McGinnis asked him. "Lieutenant Flynn pulled the phone out and the suspect started acting all crazy" Perez stated back to her. Sharon looked at McGinnis and then at Provenza. She didn't like this at all. "Call him again" McGinnis said to Sharon and she dialed his number again. "Johnny, you need to answer it" Andy said as he pointed to his phone on the table. Johnny walked over to the table and hit the answer button, and then placed the phone on speaker while he watched Andy.

"Hello?" Johnny said. "Hello, this is Commander McGinnis of the LAPD, whom am I speaking with?" McGinnis said over the phone. "Just call me Johnny" Johnny said. "Okay Johnny, I understand you took a LAPD officer as a hostage" McGinnis said to him. "Yeah, that's right" Johnny said as he smiled at Andy. "Well, I need to ask you how Lieutenant Flynn is doing?" McGinnis said to him. "He's fine" Johnny said. "Good, that's good Johnny. I need to do something for me" McGinnis said to Johnny. "Oh yeah, what's that?" Johnny asked her. "I need you to let go of Lieutenant Flynn for me, drop your gun, and walk outside with your hands up" McGinnis said over the phone. "Do you think you can do that?" she asked him. "Oh, no, I don't think so" Johnny said but then he thought of something. "Is the lovely Captain Sharon Flynn there by any chance?" Johnny asked. "Yes, she's here" McGinnis said. "I would love to speak with her" Johnny said. "I told you to leave her out of this" Andy said back to him and then Johnny punched him in the face. "Lieutenant Flynn just got punched in the face" Perez stated over the radios. Sharon took a deep breath as McGinnis nodded and handed the phone back to her.

"This is Captain Sharon Flynn" Sharon said over the phone, holding her breath after. "Oh, hello Sharon, you have quite the man here" Johnny said and then placed the phone over to Andy. "Say hello Andy" Johnny said to him. "Sharon" Andy said over the phone and it almost brought tears to Sharon's eyes. "Andy" she whispered. "Listen Sharon, Andy here has been holding out. He hasn't explained why he's being so protective of you. Do you know why?" Johnny said to Sharon as he glanced back at Andy. "No I don't" Sharon said. "Hmm, that's a pity. You both seem so good for each other. Both divorced, with kids, at the LAPD. Both tenacious in your work. Huh, who would have thought" Johnny said to her. Sharon closed her eyes. "Please let Andy go" Sharon said back to him. "Uh, no, but nice try Sharon. I don't think I'm willing to let him go just yet" Johnny said back to her.

"What do you want?" Sharon said to him. "What do I want? What do I want?" Johnny said back in a louder voice. "I wanted what every reporter wants, the big story to break their career wide open, and Andy here couldn't even help me with that" Johnny said to her. "Look, whatever story you want I'll give it to you" Sharon pleaded with him. "Um, no I think it's too late now. Oh, well that's too bad. Hmm something's going to have to be done here. Ok, Sharon since Andy here hasn't been helping me and you seem to be stalling, I'm just going to have to kill him" Johnny said. Sharon's eyes went wide. "No, no! Johnny!" she said over the phone. Johnny laughed as he looked at Andy and then hung up the phone. He tossed the phone back to Andy. "Perez, status?" McGinnis said over the radio. "The suspect is grabbing the Lieutenant and heading towards the door now" Perez said over the radio.

"Change of plans Andy. You and I are going to walk out of here and we will see what our fate brings us" Johnny said to him as he held the gun at Andy's head and they walked to the front door. "You're crazy, you know that?!" Andy said to him. Johnny held Andy's right arm behind his back. "Are you ready to die, Andy?" Johnny asked them as they got closer to the door. "I've got nothing to hide from" Andy spat back to him, which surprised him. Johnny laughed and they proceeded. He told Andy to open the door, carefully and slowly. Andy did and they slowly walked out. Andy saw SWAT as his eyes readjusted to being outside. The sun was up now. He was searching the crowd for Sharon and finally found her. Their eyes met and then Andy closed his eyes as Johnny dug the barrel of the gun into his head. "Don't make any moves or try anything fancy!" Johnny yelled out. "Or else Andy here goes bye bye!" he yelled out again to everyone there.

Stuart looked through his scope and had a clear shot of the suspect in his sights. "I have a clear shot" he said over the secured channel so only McGinnis could hear him. McGinnis looked over the situation in front of her. "Take it" she said back to him. Stuart pulled the trigger and Johnny fell to the ground behind Andy. Andy ducked as soon as he heard a shot go off and then turned around to see Johnny laying on the ground, dead. SWAT moved ahead to make sure Andy was okay. "Lieutenant?!" one of the SWAT members called out to Andy. "I'm fine" he said to them. "Clear" was called over the radio and Sharon jumped up and ran over to where Andy was standing. She embraced him and he held her tightly. They were both trembling. The hours long standoff was over. Sharon looked at him, and ran her hands through his hair and on his face, down his chest. "I'm okay, sweetheart" Andy whispered to her. "I'm just making sure" Sharon said back to him. They moved out of the way of SWAT clearing the suspect. Andy turned around as they cleared Johnny of any more weapons he had on him. They pulled out Andy's service weapon and unloaded it. Since it was taken by the suspect, it had to go downtown first and be cleared before it could be returned to Andy. "Just make sure I get it back" Andy said to them and then walked with Sharon over to where Provenza was standing.

Andy shook Provenza's hand. "What took you so long?" Andy asked Provenza. "Don't ever pull that crap again, Flynn" Provenza said to him as he continued to shake his hand. The rest of the team joined them. The paramedics walked over to them, but Andy waved them off. "I'm fine" he said to one of them. Chief Howard pulled up to the scene and walked over to them. "Lieutenant, glad to see you are okay. A word, Captain?" Chief Howard said to Andy and then to Sharon as he walked away. Sharon looked back at Andy and then followed Chief Howard. "What's going on?" Andy asked Provenza. "Ah, she kind of disobeyed an order from Howard earlier, sir" Julio told him. "See, you're rubbing off on her" Provenza said to Andy as they watched Chief Howard and Sharon talk.

Before Chief Howard could say anything, Sharon started talking. "Chief, before you say anything I want to apologize for my behavior earlier this morning" Sharon said to him but Chief Howard held up his hand. "Captain, before you say anything more. I would have done the same thing if it was Brenda that was taken" Chief Howard said. "Look, I want you and your team back at the PAB for a debriefing and then go home, get some rest, and don't come back to work, until maybe mid-morning tomorrow, got it?" Chief Howard said to Sharon. Sharon looked back at him in disbelief. She thought she was going to get reprimanded instead. "Yes Chief" Sharon said and then went back to join her team. Chief Howard then walked over to Commander McGinnis and congratulated her on a job well done.

Sharon walked back to where Andy was standing with Provenza and ran her hand up the side of his face. There was a bruise forming where Johnny had pushed the gun into Andy's head, but that would go away. She informed her team what Chief Howard had told her and they all started to walk to their cars. Andy enveloped Sharon in his arms and just held her until Provenza told them it was time to go. They then walked over to their car. "I can drive, Andy" Sharon said to him but he shook his head at her. "I got it" he said and got in the driver's seat. "I'm glad you're okay" she said to him as he started the car. He smiled at her and then they drove back to the PAB for their debriefing. His mind was still racing over the whole ordeal and he hoped that he could hold it together for Sharon's sake.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 10

"You were very clever calling Provenza's phone when Johnny took you. How'd you manage to do that?" Sharon asked Andy as they drove back to the office. "Quick thinking, I guess" Andy replied. "I texted Rusty and told him what was happening, and just to tell the adults what was going on. I just wanted them to know, in case, I don't know" Sharon started telling Andy but she stopped as she didn't want to think what could have gone wrong. They drove in silence for a couple of minutes before Sharon spoke again. "Promise me you won't run after another suspect unless you have backup?" Sharon said to him as he turned the car into the parking garage. Andy glanced over at her. "But I did have backup, I had two patrol officers with me chasing the suspect I thought was Johnny. They tackled the guy and brought him up to me, but he wasn't him" Andy said as he pulled into his parking spot. Sharon listened as Andy spoke. "Andy, you're not twenty anymore. I know you want to prove that you are still fit for this job but" Sharon started to say. "Excuse me? I am fit for this job" Andy protested to her. Sharon hung her head. "I know you are, that's not the point I was trying to make" Sharon said to him. "Well, then please tell me what the point is?" Andy said frustrated. "You're not superman, Andy. What was I supposed to tell everyone if something happened to you? If Johnny killed you, how was I supposed to explain that to Matthew, or Nicole and her boys, Rusty, Emily, Ricky, Charlie?" Sharon said to Andy as she looked right at him. "What about me? About us?" she whispered. Andy sat there, silent as he listened to Sharon.

"Sharon, I" Andy started to say but then stopped because Sharon placed her hand on the front of his shirt. "Don't. It doesn't matter right now. I'm just glad you came back to me in one piece" Sharon said to him, tears welling in her eyes. Andy looked at her and brushed the tears that fell on her cheek with his thumb as his hand moved her head closer to his. "I'm sorry" he whispered to her and then he kissed her. They both sat facing each other, his hand caressing her face. Her hands on the front of his shirt. "Come on, let's get this debriefing over so we can go home" Sharon said to him and smiled. He smiled back at her and then they got out of the vehicle and headed to the elevators.

They made it to the ninth floor and stepped out of the elevator. Sharon and Andy then headed to the Murder Room where everyone else was sitting, waiting for this debriefing to start. Sharon and Andy pulled up a chair just like everyone else did and waited to. "Who's doing the debriefing, ma'am?" Julio asked Sharon. "I'm not really sure, Chief Howard didn't say much" Sharon said to Julio and then Chief Howard walked in to the Murder Room and looked around the room. "Good, everyone is here, let's get started" Chief Howard said.

"First of all, I wanted to commend all of you for a job well done, not just for this particular case, but for your work in general. I don't say that often enough, but I truly appreciate the hard work Major Crimes does on a daily basis" Chief Howard said. "Thank you Chief" Sharon said back to him. "Second, thank you all for following Commander McGinnis's lead this morning when SWAT came on scene" Chief Howard said to them. "I know it's difficult to see a fellow team member being held at gun point, so if any of you need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask" Chief Howard added. Everyone just looked at each other and then back at Chief Howard. "I've asked Robbery/Homicide to do the notifications of the victims, so you won't have to worry about that Captain" Chief Howard said and Sharon nodded. "Okay, well then you can finish your paperwork for this case tomorrow afternoon. As I informed the Captain, I don't expect to see any of you until tomorrow mid-morning. Thank you" Chief Howard said and then walked over to where Andy was.

"Lieutenant, since the suspect took your gun, the firearms guys just need to make sure that it's in proper working order before they give it back to you. Simple procedure that's all" Chief Howard said to Andy. "When will I get it back?" Andy asked him. "Tomorrow, when you come in. You'll have to go down to the range and qualify with it again but that's it. Oh, and if you need to, talk to someone in behavioral sciences too" Chief Howard said, shook Andy's hand, and left the room. Sharon was in her office and she pulled out her phone and texted Rusty to let them know that everything was okay and they would be heading home soon.

Julio walked up to where Andy was sitting now at his desk. "Sir" he said to Andy and Andy stood up. Julio then shook Andy's hand. "I'm glad you're alright, Lieutenant" Julio said. "Thanks Julio" Andy said back to him. "Andy, next time make sure you're chasing the right guy" Mike said to Andy as he shook his hand. "Ha, ha, Mike, very funny" Andy said as he chuckled. "Lieutenant, glad you're okay" Amy said to Andy. "Lieutenant" Buzz said to Andy and shook his hand. Provenza was still sitting at his desk as everyone left. Andy looked over at him and wondered who was going to go to whom. Provenza stood up and walked over to where Andy was. "Flynn, you scared her again, I thought I told you to stop doing that" Provenza said to Andy. "There's only so much I can take from the Captain, and seeing her get emotional again over you, well I've seen enough of that" Provenza said to Andy and then shook his hand. "I'll try better" Andy said to him. "And I'm sorry I scared you too" Andy added. Provenza nodded and then left as well.

Andy walked over to where Sharon was in her office and knocked on the open door. Sharon was standing looking out at the city from her windows. "Hey, are you ready?" he said to her as he entered her office. "Yes" she said, not turning around as she wiped her eyes. It killed Andy every time he saw Sharon cry. "Sharon" he said to her as he got closer to her and held his arms open. She turned around and embraced him, pulling him closer to her and vice versa. She stood there in his arms, trembling and crying. "Shh, I'm sorry I scared you" he whispered to her and kissed the top of her head as he held her. They stood like that for a few minutes before Sharon pulled back and gave him a kiss. She then composed herself, which Andy gave her time to do so until she was ready. "Let's go home, sweetheart" Andy said to her as he led her out of her office and to the elevators.

They got to their car and Andy hesitated for a second before unlocking it. "Sharon, I know this case has been difficult for me and you, with FID interfering and me snapping at you. I just want to say" Andy said to Sharon but before he finished he bent his head and looked at the ground, taking a deep breath. He then looked back up at her. Sharon looked back at him with anticipation of what he was going to say to her. "I'm sorry I ever doubted anything with you. I just didn't want you to be disappointed with me" he said to her as he looked in her eyes and then looked away. "I don't know what I'm saying anymore" he said as he looked down at the ground again. Sharon lifted his chin with her hand. "Andy, I would never be disappointed with you" Sharon said to him. Andy shook his head. "Don't say that Sharon, because you don't always know what might happen" Andy said to her. "Andy" she whispered to him. He didn't look at her. Sharon pulled his head down to hers so that their foreheads were touching and they just stood like that for a couple of minutes. Sharon closed her eyes and then opened them back up. "Do you need a meeting?" she asked him.

Andy stood there and thought about it for a minute. He probably should go to a meeting right now, and he knew he'd be able to find one, but he just wanted to go home and be with Sharon and their kids right now. "There's a meeting later tonight that I could go to. Right now, I just want to hold you and be with our kids" Andy said to Sharon as he held her hand. "Promise me that you'll go tonight, do what you need to do to help yourself, talk to you sponsor" Sharon started to say but Andy cut her off as he pulled her in close and kissed her. "You're what I need right now" Andy said as he placed one hand in her hair and the other hand on her stomach. They kissed and then broke apart as they needed air. Sharon was a little out of breath. "Let's go home, they are all worried about you" Sharon said to Andy and then she got in the passenger seat. Andy let out a deep sigh before heading around the car to the driver's side and getting in. He then started the car and drove them home.

As they were driving, Sharon looked at her phone and saw a bunch of messages from their kids. The latest one was from Rusty. His text was simple. 'Come home now, kids hysterical, sorry'. "Great" she said out loud as she read that message. "What is it?" Andy asked her as he continued to drive closer to the house. "Someone leaked something out to the children about you being kidnapped and now they are freaking out. This is all according to Rusty" Sharon said as they pulled down their street. As they got closer to their house, SIS was still sitting out there but there was only two cars left. As they pulled in to the driveway, Andy stopped the car as Sergeant Ray met them in the driveway. "Captain, Lieutenant, we got word that you wouldn't be needing our services any longer, I sent most of the guys home but I wanted to wait until you both came home before the rest of us left" Sergeant Ray stated to them. "Thank you Sergeant" Sharon said to him and then they proceeded up the driveway, Andy parking outside the garage.

He sat there behind the wheel for a couple of seconds. Sharon looked at him, concerned. "You okay?" she asked him. "Just thinking about things" Andy said to Sharon. "Come on" she said to him and she got out of the car. He did the same and they walked up through the gate to the back door. As they entered the house, and made their way in to the kitchen, all of their children were standing there waiting for them. "Dad!" Nicole said to her father and went up to him and gave him a hug. Andy hugged her back. As Nicole pulled away, Emily stood up and hugged Andy. "I'm so glad you're okay" she said to him. "Me too, Em" he said back to her. Rusty shook his hand and so did Dean.

Matthew ran up to Andy and Andy knelt down and met him with a hug. "Hey buddy!" he said as he hugged Matthew. "I missed you Daddy!" Matthew said back to him. "Oh, I missed you too" Andy said. "Did a bad guy take you away?" Matthew asked Andy. "Yes, he did but do you remember what I said, about how Sharon, eh Mom now, would always find us, no matter what?" Andy said to Matthew and Matthew nodded his head. "Well, she found me and brought me back home" Andy continued saying to Matthew. Matthew looked at the side of Andy's face where the small bruise was forming from the barrel of the gun. "Did the bad guy put that there?" he asked him. "Yeah, but I'm okay" Andy said to Matthew as he stood back up. Matthew went over to Sharon and gave her a hug. "Were you scared when the bad guy took him?" Matthew asked her. "A little bit, but don't tell him that" she said back to him.

Next came the onslaught from Colin and Avery. "Grandpa!" they both said in unison as they bombarded Andy. "Oh, hello boys!" Andy said as he caught both of them before they could knock him over. "Boys!" Nicole said to Colin and Avery. "It's fine, Nicole" Andy said back to her. "We're glad you're alright, Grandpa" they said to him. Andy gave them both a hug. "Okay, okay, let's give Grandpa some space. Let's go back to the family room and finish watching the movie" Dean said to his kids and they did. Matthew stayed close to Sharon. "Do you want to go with them?" she asked him and Matthew shook his head no. "I want to stay here with you guys" Matthew said to her. "Do we even want to know what happened?" Nicole asked her father. Andy glanced at Sharon who was speaking to Matthew and then looked back at Nicole. "Uh, no" Andy said back to her as he sat down at the kitchen table. "So is this whole case over now?" Emily asked him. "Yes, the case is over" he said to her and then looked back at Sharon. She looked exhausted. He was exhausted too.

"Matthew, why don't we hang out while Mom and Dad go upstairs to get some rest, they look tired don't they?" Emily said to Matthew. "But I don't want them to leave again" Matthew said, clinging onto Sharon's arm now. "Matthew, we are just going upstairs to take a nap, we're not leaving the house" Sharon said to him. "Promise?" he asked her. Sharon nodded in agreement and Matthew walked over to Emily. "Can we go play outside, I'm tired of watching the movie" Matthew said to her. "Sure, Matthew" Emily said. "I'll see if the boys want to join you outside instead of watching the movie" Nicole said to Emily and went into the family room to get everyone else.

Sharon walked over to where Andy was sitting on the kitchen chair and stood between his legs. She looked down at him and caressed his face with her hands. "Come on, let's go upstairs" she said to him and then walked away grabbing his hand as he stood up and followed her. Nicole, Dean, the grandkids, and Rusty all joined Emily, Matthew, and Moxie out in the backyard. Sharon smiled at them as they left and then led Andy upstairs.

They then continued on to their room and Andy closed the door behind them, locking it so they weren't interrupted. Sharon then pulled Andy towards her and kissed him. Andy ran his hands up her back and directed her over to their bed. They both fell onto the bed. She needed to feel him in her arms. She needed to know that he was okay and alive. She climbed on top of him and kissed him passionately. "I love you" she said to him in between kissing him and removing his shirt. "I love you too" Andy said back to her and he ran his hands underneath her shirt.

As they laid together in bed, limbs intertwined with one another. Sharon's head was on Andy's shoulder as Andy ran his fingers up and down her back. She seemed content at the moment and so did he. Andy glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was three in the afternoon now. They had been in their room for almost three hours now and was surprised that no one came knocking to see where they were. He was grateful for that. Sharon stirred and propped herself up as she looked at him. "I'm going to take a shower now" she said to him as she started to get out of bed. She wrapped the bed sheet around her body and left Andy with just a blanket covering him. He watched her leave and head in to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. He continued to lay on the bed, thinking about everything that occurred.

Meanwhile, Sharon turned on the water for the shower and waited for it to steam up the room before stepping inside. She was so thankful that Andy made it out of there alive as she knew it could have ended very differently. They've had their share of psychopaths going after them and dealing with criminals on a daily basis. Sharon stood underneath the spray of water as she thought about Andy. She closed her eyes to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall but it was too late and she started to cry. She let out a sob and Andy heard her. He got out of bed and made his way over to the bathroom and opened the door to find Sharon in the shower, back towards him, her head leaning against the tiled wall, crying. His heart broke as he opened the shower door and stepped inside, joining her. She heard the shower door open and started to turn around when Andy enveloped her in his arms and they stood there, him holding her underneath the water as she cried.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 11

"You don't have a performance today?" Nicole asked Emily as they were sitting outside in the backyard watching Matthew and Colin play with Moxie. "No, no Sunday performances scheduled on this trip" Emily answered her as she took a sip of lemonade from her glass. "Can you believe what happened this morning, I mean, I never knew how dangerous my Dad's job was, well our parents jobs are" Nicole said to Emily. "I know what you mean. When my Mom took over Major Crimes, I thought it was just another desk job like she had when she was in charge of FID and IA. The stories she would tell me about the cases they dealt with were unbelievable" Emily said back to Nicole. Rusty and Dean were playing catch with Avery. "I was a little skeptical when they said that they were going to be fostering Matthew" Emily said. "I know and now they are in the process of adopting him. You're Mom has the heart of gold. She's so understanding with Matthew, and my boys" Nicole said. "She's a great Mom" Emily said as they continued to watch all of the boys play in the yard.

As Andy continued to hold Sharon in the shower, the tears were finally beginning to subside. "Are you okay?" Andy said as he titled her chin back to get a better look at her. She looked back at him. "Better" she said to him as she rested her head against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. He then leaned over and turned the water off as the water was cooling. Andy then maneuvered them out of the shower, stepping out first and wrapping a towel around Sharon's body. He then did the same for himself. Sharon took another towel and dried her hair with it. She looked at herself in the mirror as she started to get dressed. Andy went out to their closet to grab some clothes to put on and when he came back in to the bathroom, Sharon was still wrapped in her towel standing in front of the vanity.

Andy walked up to her from behind and moved her hair out of his way and kissed her neck. "I love you" he said to her as she turned around in his arms. Goosebumps were starting to form on her shoulders and arms. "Get dressed, you're starting to get cold" he said to her as he rubbed her arms. She smiled and let out a chuckle. He then moved away from her so that she could get dressed. When she finally came out of the bathroom, dressed, Andy was sitting on the chair in their bedroom. Sharon was wearing yoga pants, one of Andy's Dodgers shirts and a cardigan sweater over it. "You love wearing that shirt, don't you?" he said to her as she walked out of the bathroom. "I do" she said as she walked over to where he was sitting. He looked at her as she sat on the bed, across from where he sat. "I think we should talk about what happened this morning" she said to him as she grabbed his hands. "Sharon, I'm fine" Andy said as he shook his head at her. She looked back at him and he knew that he couldn't fool her.

Andy took a deep breath and sighed, closing his eyes. Sharon watched him as he opened his eyes. "How much of the conversation between me and that psycho did you hear?" he asked her as he gently caressed her hands. Sharon looked back at him. "All of it, mostly" Sharon said back to him. "I didn't want him dragging you into that sick game he was playing" Andy said to her as he took another deep breath. "I was trying to protect you from dealing with him, that's why I kept telling him to leave you out of it. Then when he asked to speak to you, I told him again to leave you alone" Andy said as Sharon pulled his hands and he followed her and sat down on the bed next to her. "And he punched you" Sharon said as she caressed his face as she saw the bruise from the gun. "I was so scared I was going to lose you" Sharon said to him, barely above a whisper. "I know. I was afraid I'd never see you again, or the kids" Andy said back to her. He took her in his arms and they held each other as they sat on the bed.

There was a knock on their door and Andy released Sharon so that she could open the door. "Who is it?" she asked as she approached. "It's me, Matthew" Matthew said through the door. Sharon unlocked the door and opened to reveal Matthew, and his clothes covered in grass stains. "What happened to you?" Sharon said to him as he came in to their room. "Oh, we played outside and got a little dirty" Matthew said. "Ah uh mister, you are going to get cleaned up first" Sharon said to Matthew before he climbed into their bed. "But I want to hear how you found Daddy and rescued him" Matthew said as he went around to stand in front of Andy. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you and me go in to your room, you change your clothes and then I can tell you how, uh, Mom rescued Dad, hmm?" Andy said to Matthew as he stood up and glanced over at Sharon. Even though they haven't officially adopted Matthew, they told him that it was okay if he called them mom and dad and Matthew jumped at that opportunity to do so. Matthew looked up at Andy and then shook his head. "Okay, fine" Matthew said as he walked out of their room and in to his room. Andy followed behind him and stopped to kiss Sharon on her cheek. "We're not done talking" Sharon said to him. "I know" Andy replied back to her and went in to Matthew's room. Sharon then went downstairs to see what everyone else was doing.

As she made her way down the stairs, Sharon could hear talking coming from the family room and the kitchen. She heard Emily and Nicole's voices in the kitchen so she decided to head that way. As she made her way in to the kitchen, Emily turned around and saw her mom entering. "Did Matthew wake you guys up?" Emily said to Sharon. "No, we were already up" Sharon said back to Emily as she sat down and joined them at the kitchen table. Both Nicole and Emily reached for each of Sharon's hands and held them. Sharon looked at both of them and gave them a smile as she shook her head and looked down. "Your father is going to drive me crazy with worry" Sharon said to Nicole. "You and me both!" Nicole said back to her as they sat at the table.

"So tell me how did Mommy rescue you?" Matthew said as he changed his clothes. Andy sat down in the oversized chair in Matthew's room and thought about how to tell a 9 year old what happened. "Well, I chased someone who I thought was the bad guy and it turned out it wasn't him. As I was walking back to the rest of my team, the bad guy jumped out at me and took me away to his car" Andy said as he looked at Matthew. Matthew sat on his bed, changed his clothes, and was now listening to Andy. "But, before the bad guy drove off I called Lieutenant Provenza so that they could follow my phone to see where I was going" Andy continued to tell him. "Like Hansel and Gretel when they left the trail of crumbs" Matthew said. "Um, sort of like that" Andy said back to him and he continued with the story. "So Mommy found me in a building and with the help of the team and some other police officers, they rescued me from the bad guy" Andy said to Matthew, minus the details of being held by gunpoint. "So then Mommy's a hero since she rescued you?" Matthew asked Andy. "Um, yes Matthew, she's very much a hero" Andy said as he stood up from the chair. "Come on, let's go downstairs" Andy said to Matthew and they headed down the stairs to join everyone else.

Andy and Matthew came down from upstairs and they noticed that everyone was in the family room watching TV. Nicole's boys were sitting on the floor and Dean was sitting on the oversized chair. Matthew walked around the couch and plopped himself in the middle between Sharon and Emily, who were both sitting on the couch. Matthew turned to Emily. "Mommy is a hero" he whispered to her in her ear. "Really?" Emily said back to him and Matthew nodded back at her. Matthew then turned to Sharon and snuggled up next to her. Sharon smiled as she looked down at Matthew. Andy came up to Sharon behind the couch and leaned over to her. "I'm going to catch a meeting now. I should be back in two hours or so" Andy whispered in her ear. Sharon turned around and kissed Andy on his lips. "Be careful, okay?" she said to him in a quiet voice. "I will" Andy said and then he left.

Andy headed for the kitchen to find his keys when he ran in to Nicole who was coming out of the powder room. "Hey, where are you going?" she asked Andy. "I'm just catching a meeting right now. I'll be back soon. Are you still going to be here?" Andy said to Nicole. "Yes, I think we will stick around at least till dinner. Afterwards, we are dropping Emily off at her hotel before we go home" Nicole explained to Andy. Andy was heading towards the back door when Nicole stopped him. She came up to him and gave him a hug. "You're worrying Sharon a lot" she said to him. "I know" he said back to her and hugged her. She pulled back and looked at him. "See you in a few" she said. Andy nodded and then left to go to his AA meeting.

Andy got in his car and drove over to the meeting being held at the Mt. Hollywood Congregational Church. As he drove he thought about what Nicole had said to him before he left. How he was worrying Sharon a lot lately. He didn't want to do that. Between his health scares and this case, the last thing he wanted to do was worry Sharon. Something about this case didn't sit right with him. He felt that something was missing. 'Why was FID at the first crime scene' he thought to himself as he pulled into the parking lot of the church. He sat there for a couple of minutes, thinking. 'How did Johnny know a lot of things about him' he thought as he got out of his car and headed into the church for the meeting.

He sat in the front this time, listening to everyone's stories about their struggles with alcohol. He had definitely been where these people have been, that's for certain. "How did Johnny know about my alcoholism?" he muttered to himself as he kept listening to this one guy talk. At the end of the meeting, everyone stood up and joined hands to recite the serenity prayer. Andy felt better after the meeting and as he walked back to his car, he noticed another car not too far down away from him with someone inside. Andy got that eerie feeling like he was being followed again. 'I don't have my weapon with me so what am I going to do' he thought to himself as he stopped halfway between his car and the mystery car. He thought about texting Sharon but didn't want her to worry. He then sat in his car and started it, waiting to see what the other car would do. Perhaps he was being paranoid as someone else from his meeting went over to the mystery car and got in and they drove away. Andy let out a deep sigh and then pulled out his phone and dialed Sharon's number. "Hey, meeting is over. What's for dinner?" he said as he still sat there. "We ordered pizza from Mario's, it should be ready in five minutes" Sharon said to him over the phone. "Good, I'll pick it up and then head home" Andy said. "How was your meeting?" she asked him. Andy closed his eyes for a second. "Good, it was good" he said to her. "Okay, drive safely. See you soon" Sharon said. "Okay. Love you" Andy said back to her. "Love you too" Sharon said and then she hung up.

Andy started to drive over to Mario's to pick up the dinner Sharon ordered. He pulled up in front of the restaurant and parked his car. Andy picked up their order and walked out with three pizzas and a large salad. He placed the items on top of his car and then opened the passenger door and placed the items inside. As he closed the door and walked around the car, he noticed the same car that was at the church was now a couple of cars away. Now Andy was on alert and didn't think it was just a coincidence. He walked over to the mystery car and as he approached it he saw someone familiar to him. He knocked on the window and it rolled down. "Sergeant Elliot, why are you following me?" Andy said to him as he stood by the car.

"Lieutenant, I'm not following you. I'm just waiting for my wife to come out of Mario's here" Sergeant Elliot said back to Andy. "Did Sharon put you up to this?" Andy asked him. Sergeant Elliot just looked at him and didn't say anything. "Do you know why Staples and your Lieutenant were at the crime scene the other day?" Andy asked him point blankly. "I'm working on that for the Captain, sir" Sergeant Elliot said back to him. Andy nodded his head. He should have known Sharon would contact someone in FID to find out, and who better than her trusty sidekick from back when she was in charge of them. "I'm going home now. You're welcome to follow me there" Andy said to him and then headed back to his car. He noticed another person leaving the restaurant and headed for Sergeant Elliot's car. Andy got in his car and slammed the door. 'Why would Sharon contact Elliot without telling him?' he thought to himself before starting the car and driving home.

Andy walked in the house carrying the pizzas and the bag with the salad. He was met by Nicole and Rusty, who took the food from him and placed it on the kitchen island. Everything was all set as Andy walked further in to the kitchen. "Where's Sharon?" he asked Nicole as he walked over to the island. "She's in the family room, we told her we would set up everything here" Nicole said to him. Andy then walked over to the family room. He didn't want to confront Sharon in front of everyone here so he decided that he could leave it for later. "Hi" he said to her as he sat down next to her on the couch. "Hi, did your meeting help?" Sharon said as she leaned in and kissed him on his lips. "It did" he said back to her as he looked at her. "What is it?" she asked him as she knew something was bothering him. Andy shook his head. "Later, let's go enjoy dinner now" Andy said back to her and helped her up from the couch. She stood in front of him, caressing his cheek. Andy looked at her green eyes and gave her a smile. They headed to the kitchen to enjoy the dinner with their family, knowing that later that night they both still had to finish their conversations with one another.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 12

After they ate dinner, everyone left their house, leaving Sharon, Andy, and Matthew together in the kitchen. Moxie was sleeping in the family room, exhausted from all of the attention Nicole's boys gave him. Sharon was putting away all of the plastic utensils and other items that was put out for dinner as Matthew sat at the kitchen table reading a picture book about the Dodgers that Andy had got him for Christmas. Andy was leaning up against the island watching Sharon. They had a lot to discuss. "Matthew, could you go upstairs to your room and take Moxie with you?" Andy asked Matthew as he turned around to look at the boy. Matthew looked up from his book. "But I want to stay down here with you" Matthew said to Andy. "Please Matthew, just go upstairs. Mom and I need to have a talk" Andy said a little firmer and Matthew reluctantly grabbed his book and went to the family room. Then a few seconds later, Andy saw him and Moxie head upstairs. Andy then turned back around and faced Sharon.

"So when were you going to tell me that you are having a separate investigation with FID?" Andy said as he stared back at Sharon who looked up at him from what she was doing. "What are you talking about?" Sharon said to Andy as she stopped putting away the leftover pizza and turned around to face him. Andy's arms were now folded across his chest. "Don't act innocent, Sharon. You know what I'm talking about" Andy said with just a hint of anger in his voice. Sharon looked back at him. "I ran in to your faithful lackey, Elliot, tonight. He was following me from my meeting to Mario's. After I picked up the food, I confronted him in his car" Andy said with a much louder voice. Sharon looked down at the floor and then back up at Andy. "First of all, I didn't tell Elliot to follow you tonight" Sharon said back to Andy. Andy shook his head at her. "When did you call him, huh Sharon?" Andy said. Sharon knew that he was spoiling for a fight now. She knew that he didn't want Matthew to see them fighting that's why he sent him upstairs.

"I spoke to Sergeant Elliot on Friday" Sharon simply said. "Oh yeah, was that before or after FID came into our office to investigate me?" Andy said back to her in a spiteful tone. "After, I wanted to know why they were at the crime scene in the first place" Sharon said to him a little louder than how she was talking before. "Really? Are you sure it wasn't to know if I was guilty and somehow was involved with the victim?" Andy said to her and as soon as he said those words, he regretted it. Sharon looked back at him with a hurtful look on her face. "How dare you accuse me of not believing you now when I have told you throughout this whole investigation that I believed you" Sharon said to him in a quieter voice. Andy realized what he said hurt her feelings. "I defended you against FID when they were questioning you in our office, I have stood by you throughout this whole ordeal, and that's what you have to say to me?" Sharon said back to him. For once, Andy was speechless as he stood there looking at Sharon. "Well, why didn't you tell me you contacted Sergeant Elliot in the first place?" Andy finally said after a couple of minutes. "You had enough on your plate dealing with the killer, Andy" Sharon said to him.

"So instead of you telling me and maybe having a conversation or no conversation about it then, I have to find out about it when I stopped Sergeant Elliot myself tonight!" Andy yelled again. "You want to yell at me? Fine yell at me. But know this, Andrew Michael Flynn, I never doubted you for a second during all of this. And if you think for one second that I deliberately went behind your back, then you can find yourself sleeping on the couch tonight!" Sharon said and then she left to go upstairs. Andy just stood there and wondered what went wrong tonight. He wasn't mad at Sharon, he was mad at the circumstances surrounding them.

Andy stood in the kitchen looking around and walked over to the kitchen sink and stood there. He gripped the sides of the sink, letting the fresh argument play over in his head. He then flashed back to Johnny sticking the gun to his head and Andy closed his eyes. There was another voice in his head. A voice telling him that if he took just one sip of alcohol, he'd feel better and everything would go away. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He knew there was no alcohol in the house. He didn't want to lose Sharon and everything else they had built together over a question in his sobriety. He didn't want to be like Jack. He wondered just how much he had messed up as he headed towards the stairs.

Sharon went upstairs and knocked on Matthew's door before entering his room. He was playing with his toys on his floor and already had his pajamas on. "Did I do something wrong?" Matthew asked Sharon as she came in to his room and sat on his bed. "No sweetie, you didn't do anything wrong" Sharon said back to him. "Can I still call you Mommy?" Matthew asked. "Of course you can Matthew" Sharon said to him. "Why are you fighting then?" Matthew asked her. "Daddy and I just had a disagreement on something that's all" Sharon said to Matthew, trying to reassure him. "Were you sad when he was taken by the bad guy?" Matthew asked Sharon as he stopped playing with his toys and stood up in front of her. "I was sweetie, very sad and very worried that I wasn't going to see him again" Sharon said to Matthew. "Then tell him that and I'm sure he will give you a hug and then both of you won't be mad at each other anymore" Matthew said innocently to Sharon. Sharon smiled at him and pulled him in for a hug. "It's getting late and you got school tomorrow, so time for bed" Sharon said to Matthew. "Fine" Matthew said as he got in to his bed and Sharon tucked him in. "Good night, sweetie" Sharon said as she kissed him on his forehead and then closed his door behind her.

She stood out in the hallway for a couple of minutes, trying to figure out if Andy was still downstairs or not when she heard him coming up the stairs. Andy made it to the top of the stairs when he saw Sharon standing outside of Matthew's room. "I just tucked him in to bed" she said to him as she made her way over to their room and closed the door behind her. 'Well, at least she didn't slam the door' he thought to himself as he opened Matthew's door. "Hey, I just wanted to say good night to you" he said to Matthew. "You know, Mommy was very sad when the bad guy took you away from her" Matthew said to Andy as he sat on the edge of Matthew's bed. "I know. She told me that earlier today" Andy said as he reminisced back to him holding her in the shower earlier in the day. After everything that happened to him with being taken hostage, to Sharon breaking down in the shower, Andy was feeling really bad about their argument they had just had. "Give her a hug, then you won't be mad at her anymore" Matthew said back to Andy. Andy looked at Matthew and smiled. "I think it might be a little more complicated than that, I'm afraid" Andy said back to him and Matthew just shrugged his shoulders as he laid in bed. "Good night buddy" Andy said to Matthew as he stood up from his bed. "Good night" Matthew said back to him and Andy closed the door behind him.

As he stood outside in the hallway, he knew what he needed to do. It was going to take a lot of apologizing. That's if Sharon didn't truly kick him out of their room tonight. He made his way over to their room and opened the door. Stepping inside he didn't see Sharon so he closed the door behind him and went looking for her. She was in their bathroom getting herself ready for bed when he found her. She was wearing a nightgown. Andy thought he should start the apologies as quickly as possible so he went up to her. "I'm sorry" he said to her as he moved and stood behind her as she was facing the mirror over the sink. She closed her eyes and then turned around to see Andy holding his arms out and she walked into his embrace. "I'm so sorry Sharon" he said to her, tears welling up in his eyes as he held her tightly. She had her head on his shoulder and her arms around him. She held onto him as they stood there in the bathroom. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you" he said to her. She closed her eyes to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall again.

"I would never go behind your back deliberately Andy, you know that right?" Sharon said as she cried in his arms. Andy took a deep breath. "I know that, it's just this whole thing, ahh!" Andy said back to her as he continued to hold her in his arms. "I was scared, Sharon. Johnny asked me if I thought I was out of your league, and I began doubting myself. I didn't want that psycho taunting you over the phone" Andy said to her as he held onto her. Sharon closed her eyes as she listened to Andy. She then pulled back and looked into his eyes. "Don't ever doubt my love for you, Andy. You and I belong together" Sharon said back to him as she caressed his face. They looked at each other and then slowly met one another for a long, passionate kiss. After they broke apart, Andy continued to hold Sharon.

"I know you wanted to discuss further what happened this morning, and I'm willing to do so. I just don't want to let go of you right now" Andy said to Sharon as they held each other. She then removed his shirt so now he was standing only in his jeans. She laid her head on his bare chest and placed her hand over his heart and she listened to his heart beating. He closed his eyes and kissed the top of her head as his hands caressed her back.

They stood like that for what seemed like an eternity to Andy. "We can talk in bed" Sharon said back to him in a quiet voice. Andy nodded and let go of his hold on Sharon. She moved from the bathroom to their bedroom, holding on to his hand and led him to their bed. She pulled back the covers and slowly got in. Andy moved onto the bed behind Sharon and once she was settled, slid behind her and held her close to him again.

"When he pointed his gun at me at first, I thought that was it. That he was going to shoot me right there on the street" Andy said to Sharon as he held her tightly. "I know it was stupid of me to run off like that, chasing someone I wasn't completely sure about" Andy added as Sharon turned around in his arms. She listened to him as he spoke. She knew he needed to talk and vent through everything. She was sure he didn't speak at his meeting he went to. "I know you were concerned about my health throughout all of this" he said to her looking down at her. "I'm always concerned about that, Andy. When the man that you are deeply in love with collapses right outside your office door and clutches his heart, that's something that never goes away, no matter how many times the doctor clears you or says that you are doing fine" Sharon said back to him.

"I am very sorry that that happened, almost five months ago" Andy said to Sharon as she kissed his heart area on his bare chest. "You know I don't try to leave you on purpose, right?" Andy said and Sharon chuckled. She looked up at his face, tears threatening again to fall as Andy moved one of his hands to brush her hair out of her face. "I love you so much Sharon" Andy said to her and kissed her with passion. She moved her hands to his hair as she kissed him back. When they broke apart, both needing air, she spoke to him.

"I love you too, Andy" she said as she looked into his eyes. "I was so scared as well that I wasn't going to see you again. That you were going to get killed by some psycho guy who held a grudge against you that we didn't even know about. I mean, who would have thought that?" Sharon said to Andy as she caressed his face. Andy moved his hands from her hair to her back. "Did Matthew speak to you when you said good night to him?" she asked him as he held her. "He did. Told me how scared and worried you were when the bad guy took me" Andy said back to her. "He said if I gave you a hug, it would make you feel better and then everything would be alright" he added as he caressed her back. Sharon chuckled again. "He told me the same thing, that I should give you a hug and tell you that I was scared, and then we wouldn't be mad at each other anymore" Sharon said to Andy. "Seems like he's very insightful for a nine year old" Andy said back to her. She smiled and him and he smiled back at her.

"Are you still mad about me going to Sergeant Elliot to see why FID was at the first crime scene?" Sharon asked Andy as he still held her close to him. "No, I just wished you would have told me, that's all. But I understand why you did that. From now on, we're a team agreed?" Andy said back to her and kissed her on her head. "Agreed" Sharon said as she smiled and snuggled into his chest. "I think there is something else to this" she said to him. "What do you mean?" Andy said back to her. "Well, why would FID be there in the first place? Unless someone tipped them off. I mean, there was no officer involved shooting to bring them out there, so how would they know to go to the crime scene?" Sharon said to Andy as he caressed her back. "We'll figure it out tomorrow. Besides, I'm not done apologizing to you" Andy said as he moved her on top of him, straddling his waist. She looked down at him and smiled. He looked up at her and kissed her, deeply and passionately. They ended up making love to each other and a few hours later, Andy held Sharon as they both fell asleep.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 13

The next morning, Sharon woke up to an empty bed. She ran her hand over the side where Andy slept and the bed sheet was cold. It was a couple of minutes before their alarm would go off and she looked around to see where Andy had gone to. She wrapped her robe around her body and looked for him in the bathroom, but he wasn't there. She looked outside on their balcony, but still no sign of Andy. She made her way out of their room and checked the guest rooms before heading over to Matthew's room. She gently opened the door and saw Andy sleeping sitting up with his head against the headboard next to Matthew who was also sleeping. Matthew had a tight grip on Andy's shirt that he must have put on before coming in to his room.

Sharon walked around to the other side of the bed and leaned down to Andy. "Andy?" she whispered to him as she gently caressed his face with her hand. He stirred and opened his eyes. A smile came to his face and then he looked down to see where he was. "Hi beautiful" he said to Sharon as he reached up to touch her face. "How long have you been in here?" she asked him as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Couple hours, Matthew had a bad dream and came in to our room. You were asleep and I didn't want to wake you so I told him I would come in here" Andy said back to Sharon. Andy tried sitting up and gently pried Matthew's hand from his t-shirt. He then sat up and joined her at the edge of the bed, rubbing his neck trying to get the kinks out. "What time is it?" he asked her. "We have about five minutes or so before the alarm goes off" she whispered back to him as she stood up and he followed.

They left Matthew's room and headed back to their room. Andy pulled her close to him and kissed her. "Hmm, when did you change your clothes?" Sharon asked as she pulled away. "After Matthew came in to our room, I sort of had to" Andy said sheepishly back to her. Sharon smiled back at him and made her way to their closet to pick out her clothes for the work day.

"So you have the range at 9 am this morning, right?" she said to him as she was searching for something in their closet. "Um, yes I do" Andy said back to her as he sat on their bed and waited for her to be finished. "Ok, good. I think we should both go meet with Sergeant Elliot this morning then. He said he had some information for me and I want you to hear it as well" Sharon said as she came out holding her Armani black pant suit and a purple top. "Sharon" Andy said back to her and shook his head. "What?" she said to him as she hung up her clothes in the bathroom. "Nothing" he said to her as he went in to their closet to pull a suit out to wear.

Sharon made her way back in to the closet and paused before him. Andy's head was down and he was looking at his feet. He was shaking his head and Sharon placed her hand on his shoulder. Andy looked up at her. "You and I, we're a team right? Like you reminded me last night" Sharon said to him as he looked at her. "Where is Sergeant Elliot meeting us?" Andy asked him as he smiled and grabbed his suspenders from the shelf.

After they both took a shower, Sharon stepped out of the shower stall and allowed Andy to rinse himself off without the distraction of her. She wrapped herself in a towel and began to get ready for the day. Andy turned the water off and stepped out of the shower stall. He wrapped a towel around his waist and proceeded to the sink where he was going to shave. He looked at himself in the mirror and saw where Johnny had dug the gun into his temple. The bruise was nice and purple now. He paused as he looked at it. Sharon walked by him. "Everything okay?" she asked him as she started to put on her make-up. "Yeah" he said back to her and then placed the shaving cream on his face and shaved his morning stubble.

As Andy got dressed, Sharon went in Matthew's room to wake him up. She opened the shades on his windows and the sun was starting to come up. "Rise and shine, sweetie" Sharon said to Matthew as she walked over to him and woke him up. Matthew rubbed his eyes as he got out of bed. Moxie licked his face as he was wagging his tail at the boy. Matthew giggled and Sharon laughed. Matthew then headed to his bathroom and got dressed in his uniform for school.

While Matthew was in the bathroom, Sharon went back in to their room as Andy was just coming out of their bathroom. He was dressed wearing his black pin-striped suit and purple shirt and tie to match Sharon. "You look devastatingly handsome" she said to him as she wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a kiss. "Is Matthew up?" Andy asked her as he pulled back from their kiss. "Yes, he's getting dressed" Sharon said back to him. "Okay, I'll stay up here and wait for him so you can head downstairs" Andy said back to Sharon and she smiled at him. Walking away she grabbed her bag and then headed downstairs.

Matthew came out of his bathroom and ran right into Andy who was standing in the hallway, watching Sharon walk down the stairs. "Oomph!" Matthew said as he ran into Andy. Andy turned around. "Sorry kiddo" he said to Matthew, and he placed his hand on Matthew's shoulder. "Are you all set?" Andy asked him as he walked with him to his room. "Almost, I have a book I want to bring to show Tommy at school" Matthew said as he ran in to his room. "Is everything okay now between you and Mommy?" Matthew asked Andy as he grabbed his book from his bookshelf. "Yes, Matthew I think so" Andy said as he smiled at the kid. "Did you give her a hug?" Matthew asked him as he turned around with the book in hand and headed back in to the hallway. Andy thought about last night. "Yes, I gave her a hug" Andy said back to him and they headed downstairs.

Moxie came back from being let out by Sharon and he waited for Andy to feed him breakfast. "Good morning Matthew" Sharon said to him. "Morning" Matthew mumbled back as he placed the book inside his backpack and then headed over to the counter to get his box of cereal. Andy fed Moxie and then joined Matthew at the kitchen table. "Do you want Lucky Charms?" Matthew asked Andy as he offered him the cereal box. Andy thought about it but decided against it as Sharon was looking right at him. "Um, no buddy I'll stick with the raisin bran instead" Andy said as he poured that cereal into his bowl. Sharon laughed at the face that Andy made and got Matthew's lunch ready for him.

They were all set and ready to leave the house. It was odd for Andy to not have his firearm with him as he left the house for work. He had his badge clipped to his belt along with his handcuffs and an extra magazine. His firearm would be waiting for him down at the range. Sharon got Matthew in the car along with Moxie when Andy came out and joined them, locking up the house behind him. "You got everything?" Sharon asked him as he climbed into the driver's seat. Andy leaned over to her sitting in the passenger seat and kissed her. "Yep, now I do" Andy said. Sharon looked back at him and giggled. "You're so corny" she said to him. He smiled back at her and then started the car. They drove over to Matthew's school.

After dropping Matthew off at school and Moxie at the doggie day care place, they headed in to work. It was 8:30 in the morning when they got to their office. Andy went to his desk and sat down while Sharon went in to her office. Provenza walked in next and waved to Andy. "Aren't you supposed to be at the range this morning?" Provenza asked Andy as he sat down at his desk. "9 o'clock, but I guess I should head down there now" Andy said back to him as he glanced at his watch. Andy stood up and knocked on Sharon's door before entering. "Hey, uh I'm heading down to the range now. Provenza's here" Andy said to Sharon. Sharon looked out to the office and saw Provenza sitting at his desk, working on something. She then looked back at Andy. "Okay, good luck and be safe" Sharon said to him. "Always. Uh, where should I meet you when I'm done?" Andy asked her. "Come back up here and then we'll go" Sharon said back to him. He saluted her and then left her office.

Andy walked out of the Murder Room and waited at the elevators for the next available one. He was thinking about what Sharon and him discussed last night while they laid in bed when the elevator doors opened. It was empty so he stepped inside and pushed the button for the range. As the doors closed, his mind thought back again to last night with Sharon. As the doors opened again, this time on the fourth floor where Robbery/Homicide was located, Detective Hudson walked on to the elevator and joined Andy. "Flynn" Hudson said to him as he walked on. "Hudson" Andy said back and the doors closed. Detective Hudson had been with the Robbery/Homicide division for a long time. Andy had worked with him briefly before he made his move to Priority Homicide. Hudson was known for taking shortcuts on his investigations. Andy never cared for Hudson when he was working in the same division, and really didn't care for him now. He had gotten into trouble with FID in the past and Andy knew that Sharon had even suspended him, which caused him to be passed up for promotions ever since.

When they both got off of the floor with the range on it and headed in the same direction, Andy huffed. "Oh, you're qualifying as well this morning?" Hudson turned around as he walked through the door to the range. "Seems that way" Andy said back to him as he kept walking to the firearms officers at the end of the hallway. "Lieutenant, glad to see you are okay regarding yesterday's incident" Officer Martinez said to Andy as he shook his hand. Martinez was a good guy who had been in the firearms training division almost his whole career. Andy had a lot of respect for him. "Thanks" Andy replied back as he shook his hand. Andy walked with Martinez over to the lock box that held his firearm. "Your firearm is in good working condition, so all I need you to do is qualify again with it and you should be all set" Martinez said to Andy as he handed him his firearm. Andy holstered it as he moved to the firing range.

Everyone was ready to qualify and they went through the qualification fire. Andy scored a 149 out of 150. He had missed one of his head shots but still qualified with no issues. Hudson also qualified. As Andy moved to the cleaning room, Hudson was already in there talking with Jennings, the other range officer. "Yeah, and when I heard she shot that guy at the courthouse, I thought, good now FID has to investigate you" Hudson said laughing with the other guy.

Andy walked in and placed his firearm on the cleaning table and took a deep breath. He knew they were talking about Sharon. He then turned around to face Hudson. "You got a problem, Flynn?" Hudson said as he looked back at Andy. "Yeah, I do. You're my problem!" Andy said back to him. "What? Me and Jennings are just two guys here shooting the breeze" Hudson said as he pointed to Jennings. "Is that what it is? Or are you making fun of my Captain?" Andy said back to him as he moved closer to Hudson. "Hey now, take it easy Flynn, wouldn't want you passing out down here" Hudson said as he laughed at him.

Andy was getting mad but kept his cool as he turned back around and cleaned his firearm. "I heard she got married again. Poor guy" Hudson continued talking with Jennings. "Oh that's right, Flynn, you married her" Hudson looked up and back at where Andy was standing, cleaning his firearm. Andy closed his eyes for a brief second and then continued cleaning his firearm, trying to not pay attention to Hudson. Hudson just laughed.

After Andy was all set, he left the cleaning room and Hudson in there and returned to the elevators. He kept his cool around Hudson because the last thing Sharon and he needed was a full out fist fight between Hudson and him. Andy rode the elevator up to the ninth floor and got out. As he was walking to the Murder Room, Chief Howard stopped him in the hallway. "Ah, Lieutenant Flynn, how was the range?" Chief Howard asked him. "Good, no problems qualifying" Andy said back to him. "Glad to hear. Tell your Captain that I would like her to attend a meeting with me this afternoon" Chief Howard said back to him as he left the area.

Andy nodded and then headed in to the Murder Room. When he walked in the room, he saw everyone at their desks busy with paperwork. "Hey Flynn? Did you qualify?" Provenza asked him as Andy walked to his desk. He glanced at Sharon in her office. She was currently on the phone with someone. "Yes, I qualified. I ran into Detective Hudson down there as well" Andy said as he sat down in his chair. "Ugh, what did that idiot say to you?" Provenza said as he walked over to Andy.

Before Andy could say anything to Provenza, Sharon opened her office door and walked over to Andy's desk. "Everything good?" she asked Andy. "Yeah, everything's good" Andy replied back to her. "Lieutenant Provenza, Andy and I have a meeting to attend, we should be back shortly" Sharon said to Provenza as Andy stood up from his desk. "Sure Captain, don't worry we'll hold down the fort here" Provenza said to Sharon as she and Andy walked out of the office.

As they got in the hallway, Sharon turned around to Andy. "Is everything okay?" Sharon asked him again. "Yeah, it's just I ran into Detective Hudson down at the range and he said some things that I didn't care for. But don't worry, it's not like I planted my fist in his face or anything like that" Andy said back to Sharon as she looked at him. "I said I didn't do that" Andy said as he glanced at Sharon. Sharon shook her head. They continued to the elevators and Sharon pressed the down button. The elevator came and the two of them stepped inside. "Oh, before I forget, Chief Howard wants you to sit in a meeting with him this afternoon" Andy said as Sharon pressed the button for the first floor. "Hmm, okay" she said as she turned around and grabbed Andy's hand as they took the elevator down.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks everyone for the great reviews on this story. I really appreciate it!

Chapter 14

Andy and Sharon continued to hold hands as they rode the elevator down. Sharon glanced at Andy and she could tell that something was bothering him. She squeezed his hand gently as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out. They walked through the lobby of the building and headed out the front door. It was a beautiful, sunny day in Los Angeles and as they stepped outside, Andy put his sunglasses on. Sharon did the same and they started walking towards the sidewalk. Sharon and Andy met Sergeant Elliot at the coffee shop around the corner from their office.

"Captain!" Sergeant Elliot said to Sharon as both her and Andy walked inside the shop. Sharon turned around to see Sergeant Elliot sitting at one of the tables towards the back and led Andy in that direction. Andy held out Sharon's chair for her and then sat down next to her, across from Sergeant Elliot. Sergeant Elliot glanced at Andy and then back at Sharon. "Thank you for meeting here, I wasn't sure if we should have met on the seventh floor or not" Elliot said to Sharon. "Not a problem, what did you find out, Sergeant?" Sharon said to him. Elliot pulled out some papers to show both Andy and her. "I did some digging around, it wasn't easy because Staples suspected something, but anyway this is what I found" Elliot said as he handed the paper to Sharon.

Sharon read it carefully. "So, FID being called out to the crime scene wasn't a coincidence then" Sharon stated to Elliot and to Andy. Sharon continued to read the report. It was the call out sheet from the first detective on the scene at the first crime scene from their case. As she read it she saw a familiar name stand out, Detective Hudson. "Yes, it seems that Detective Hudson, from Robbery/Homicide, notified FID when he found Lieutenant Flynn's business card on the victim" Elliot stated to both of them. "Wait, what? Detective Hudson was there?" Andy interrupted. Andy glanced at Sharon as she handed the report to him and he read it. "That son of a" Andy muttered as he placed the report down on the table. He started to get up, but Sharon placed her hand on his arm. "Sit down, Andy" Sharon said with a pleading look in her eyes.

He looked down at her and clenched his jaw, shaking his head as he sat back down. "Thank you" Sharon whispered to him. "I should have punched him when I had the chance this morning" Andy said. Sharon glanced at him and so did Elliot, pretending not to hear what the Lieutenant had just said. "So what do we even have here?" Sharon turning back to Elliot. "Well Captain, given his track record from before when you were in charge, to filing a false police conduct report on the Lieutenant here, along with some other information I newly discovered, I'd say we have enough to bring him up on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer" Elliot stated to Sharon and Andy. "Which could result in dismissal" Sharon said to Elliot. They continued to sit at the table. "Wait a second here" Andy said to them. "I don't want to get anyone fired, even if it is Detective Hudson" Andy continued. "It's not up to you, Andy. If IA has enough evidence on a police officer, it is their job to pursue the case against the officer, regardless of rank" Sharon explained to Andy.

"What other information did you discover?" Andy asked Elliot. "Ah, sorry Lieutenant. I can't tell you that" Elliot stated to him as he looked at Sharon. Sharon nodded at Elliot and then glanced at Andy.

Andy looked back at Sharon. "Captain, Lieutenant, let me explain this to both of you so you have a better understanding" Elliot said to Andy. "Detective Hudson was the first to arrive at the crime scene. He walked over to the body, saw your business card, Lieutenant, and called FID directly and spoke to Staples" Elliot started to explain. "Staples wrote down in his notes from the initial phone call, and I quote, "Detective Hudson on scene, states Lieutenant Flynn involved with female victim, victim is brutally murdered, Lieutenant Flynn's business card found on body"" Elliot stated as he read from the report. Andy listened to what Elliot was saying and pounded his fist on the table, which startled Sharon.

"Sorry" Andy said, apologizing to Sharon. "Look, Captain, I'm just informing you of what I found out, like you asked me to do. I knew that if you were calling me regarding something, that I was going to follow-up indefinitely on that" Elliot stated to Sharon. Andy smirked when he heard Elliot say that.

"Thank you Sergeant" Sharon said. "Do you need anything else from the two of us?" Sharon asked Elliot as she motioned her hand between her and Andy. "No ma'am" Elliot said to her. "What about Sergeant Staples and Lieutenant Camacho?" Sharon asked as Andy remained silent, his head looking down. "You know how Staples is but Lieutenant Camacho is on board with this" Elliot stated to Sharon and then glanced over at Andy.

"Thank you. If you will excuse us, Sergeant, we have a lot of paperwork to file" Sharon said to Elliot as she stood up. Sergeant Elliot shook her hand and then Sharon turned around and waited for Andy. Andy slowly stood up and looked at Sergeant Elliot. Sergeant Elliot held out his hand for Andy to shake, which he did. "Sorry about all of this, Lieutenant. I'm glad you are okay. Don't know what the Captain would have done if something happened to you" Elliot said back to him in a low voice so Sharon couldn't hear him. Andy nodded to him and then joined Sharon where she was standing.

"Did you want to get anything here?" Andy asked her as they walked up to the front of the coffee shop. Sharon shook her head. "No, I'm good for now" she said to him as she grabbed his right hand and held it. They exited the shop and walked across the street. Andy pulled Sharon over to the side before they entered the PAB building.

"What is it?" Sharon asked Andy, concerned. Andy took a deep breath and looked at Sharon. He placed his left hand over her hand that he was holding. "I'm sorry about everything, Sharon" he started to tell her as she stood there looking at him. "Andy" she said just above a whisper as she shook her head at him. "You know none of this is your fault" she said to him as she placed her right hand on his arm and they had a seat outside the building.

"I know my past is difficult and you're tired of hearing broken promises from before, but I promise you that if my sobriety was ever in danger, I would do everything to fix that for you" Andy told her, looking into her eyes. "Andy, what's bringing this up?" Sharon asked him. Andy looked down at the ground. "Last night, after our fight, when you went upstairs I stayed in the kitchen a little longer" Andy started to tell her. Sharon adjusted her sitting on the bench and moved closer to him. "I was replaying our fight over in my head, and a lot of other things popped up" Andy continued to tell her. "It's okay, Andy" Sharon said to him as she rubbed his arm. Andy shook his head as he looked up at her. "We're okay" she re-assured him. "And if something does happen to question your sobriety, we will face it together" she added.

"I just wanted you to know" Andy told Sharon as they sat there on the bench. "Thank you" she said to him and gave him a smile. "Come on" she said as she tugged on his hand and stood up. Andy and Sharon then walked into the PAB building, flashed their badges at the guard and headed to the elevators.

As they were waiting for the elevator, they heard a bunch of people talking and laughing. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Captain Rulebook and her not so faithful Lieutenant!" Detective Hudson said as he came up to the elevators. Andy glared at Hudson as Sharon squeezed his hand. "What's the matter Flynn, she got you on a short leash today?" Hudson said to Andy and laughed. Andy let go of Sharon's hand and walked over to where Hudson was standing with a bunch of other officers from Robbery/Homicide. He wasn't going to lay a hand on him, as much as he wanted to. Andy knew that if he punched him right there, in front of Sharon, that he would be reprimanded for doing so. "I know what you did" Andy said to Hudson in a low voice so only he could hear him. Hudson looked at Andy. "I don't know what you're talking about" Hudson replied.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened as people got out. The group that was with Detective Hudson stepped onto the elevator. Detective Hudson glared back at Andy and then smiled. "Bye Flynn" he said to Andy as he stepped around him and went into the elevator. Andy stood there with his back to Sharon, closing his eyes for a brief second before turning around and facing her.

Andy walked back to where Sharon was standing. He was ready to get an earful from her, but instead she lightly touched his hand and then pressed the button for the elevator again. Sharon didn't say anything to him as they stepped on the elevator and the doors closed. As they rode up in the elevator, Sharon glanced at Andy who was looking at the floor. She leaned up and quickly kissed him on his cheek before the doors opened again at their floor. Andy was surprised by this and followed Sharon out of the elevator.

They made their way back into the Murder Room. Sharon headed for her office while Andy went towards his desk. Provenza looked up from his crossword puzzle he was working on to see that both of them had returned from whatever meeting they had attended. He never asked Andy or Sharon what the meeting involved.

Everyone else on the team were working on their paperwork, trying to close up their case. Mike had finished up his report and stood up. He then walked over to Sharon's office and knocked on her door. "Come in" she said. Mike entered and handed her his report. "Here you are Captain" he said. "Thank you" Sharon said to him. "Oh, has Lieutenant Provenza done any of his paperwork yet, or has he just been working on his crossword puzzle since we've been gone this morning?" Sharon asked Mike. "Oh, uh" Mike said as he couldn't answer her. "It's okay Mike, thank you" Sharon said to him and he left her office.

Mike then walked back to his desk but made a detour to Provenza's desk. "You're busted!" Mike said to Provenza. Provenza looked up at him with a quizzical look on his face. "How so?" Provenza said to Mike. "She wants your paperwork" Mike said to him as he walked back to his desk. "I already did my paperwork, Tao!" Provenza said to him as he picked up a folder that was on his desk and showed him. "When did you do that, sir?" Julio said as he looked up from his computer.

As the rest of the team bantered with Provenza, Andy started focusing on his own paperwork from the case. The fact that Detective Hudson was behind tipping off FID still didn't sit well with him. And what was the other information that Elliot found but couldn't share? He wanted to punch that stupid grin off of Hudson's face. He looked over at Provenza who was now trying to explain why his paperwork was filled two days ago when they didn't even have all of the information.

"Yes, I wrote it up two days ago. All I have to do is fill in the blanks and that's it, what's the big deal?" Provenza said to Mike, Julio, and Amy. "Come on, we knew two days ago who the person was behind the killings, we just didn't know how we would catch him. But thanks to Flynn over there, getting himself taken hostage by him, we got the killer. Isn't that right Flynn?" Provenza stated to Andy who was still sitting at his desk. When Andy didn't acknowledge him, Provenza spoke to Andy again. "Flynn?" he said as he stood up and walked over to Andy's desk.

"Is everything okay, Flynn?" Provenza asked him quietly as he stood by his desk. Andy stood up and looked at Provenza. "Yeah, I just need to clear my head" Andy said to him as he walked around and headed towards the door.

Provenza looked at Sharon through her office windows. She looked up and saw Andy leave. She started to get up but Provenza motioned for her to stay as he started to follow Andy out of the office.

Provenza saw Andy turn towards the elevators and followed him there. "What's going on with you?" Provenza asked him as he stood, waiting for an elevator. "Ever wonder why FID showed up at the first crime scene?" Andy said to Provenza as the elevator doors opened and he stepped in. Provenza followed him inside as Andy hit the button for the top floor. "Yeah?" Provenza said as he shrugged his shoulders. "I know why" Andy said as the doors to the elevator closed.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 15

The elevator doors opened and Andy and Provenza walked out and headed towards the roof access. "Whoa, wait just a second here Flynn, care to bring me in on what you know?" Provenza said to Andy as he stopped him from opening the roof access door. Andy turned and looked at his friend and then continued to open the door and step out onto the roof. Provenza's head lowered and then he followed Andy outside. It was noisy up on the roof, but no one would be up there, which is why Andy chose that location.

Andy walked over to the stairs where the helicopter pad access was at. He waited for Provenza to join him there. Andy looked around to make sure they were alone. "Detective Hudson was the one who tipped FID off in the first place. He was the first detective on the scene, saw my card, and told FID I was involved with the victim" Andy said to Provenza.

Provenza looked at Andy and shook his head. "How do you know all of this?" Provenza asked him. "Sharon and I met with Sergeant Elliot earlier, that's where we were at" Andy started to explain. Provenza stood there listening to Andy. "Wait, you met with FID, willingly?" Provenza said to Andy. Andy placed his hands on his hips and stared at his friend. "Are you finished?" Andy asked him and Provenza listened again.

"Well what did Sergeant Elliot say exactly?" Provenza asked Andy as Andy leaned up against the railing to the stairs that led up to the helicopter pad. "He said the bastard called FID directly and stated to them that I was involved with the victim" Andy said. "Who did he speak with in FID?" Provenza asked. "Staples" Andy answered.

"So that explains why they were there. But what's got you in a tiff?" Provenza stated as he looked at Andy. "Earlier today at the range, Detective Hudson was there. Now I don't know if it was just a coincidence of him being there or not. He and I exchanged words after I qualified and I walked away" Andy said as he was motioning with his hands. "Anyway, fast forward to Sharon and I down in the lobby waiting for the elevator after our meeting. Who showed up but Hudson and some other detectives" Andy said. "That's a hell of a coincidence" Provenza muttered. "Right?" Andy said and then continued. "So the last thing I want to do is get into a fight with him, especially with Sharon being right there so I keep my cool and walk over to him" Andy said. "Did he do something?" Provenza asked. "No, no, look let me finish" Andy said. "I'm waiting for that" Provenza muttered in a low voice and Andy glared at him. "Go on" Provenza said. "I walked up to him and told him that I know what he did but the bastard said that he didn't know what I was talking about. He's all smug, you know and then leaves with the rest of them in an elevator" Andy said. Provenza continued to watch Andy as he stood there.

"Sharon told me to let FID handle this with Hudson. I guess they have some more info on him, but Elliot wouldn't share that and Sharon seemed to be alright with that" Andy said as he was no longer leaning against the railing. "So, then let them handle it. She's the expert with dealing with FID, Flynn" Provenza said. "Ugh" Andy said as he swatted his hand in the air at Provenza and walked away towards the roof access door.

"Flynn wait!" Provenza called out to him and then followed behind. Andy stopped and waited for Provenza to catch up to him. "Is that all that's bothering you?" Provenza asked him. Andy looked out towards the other buildings surrounding them and then looked back at Provenza.

"We had a fight last night" Andy said to him as Provenza watched Andy. Provenza shrugged his shoulders. "So? It's not like the first time the two of you have fought" Provenza said to Andy. "No, it wasn't but this was different, this case brought up some things that I thought were gone and we're okay now, but last night I thought I had screwed everything up" Andy said shaking his head.

"A lot of stuff has been going on, even before this case. In a week, Sharon and my petition for the adoption of Matthew can go through the family court system. We told him that he can start calling us Mom and Dad and he's been doing that every chance that he gets. A couple of times, he's forgotten about his real mom and then he gets mad and upset, and it's usually Sharon that comforts him and then later I'm the one that's reassuring Sharon, when she asks if we are doing the right thing" Andy says. "Flynn, you need to breathe, otherwise you're going to end up in the hospital again" Provenza says, interrupting him as he places his hand on his shoulder.

Andy stood there looking at Provenza. "Do you need a meeting or something?" Provenza asked him. Andy shook his head. "No, I don't need a meeting" Andy said to him. "Alright look, I'm only going to tell you this because you are my friend, Flynn. It's pretty simple, keep the Captain happy, don't try killing yourself over some stupid suspect or injuring yourself because you think you can cut it" Provenza said. "Has she been speaking to you?" Andy said interrupting Provenza. Provenza looked at Andy. "No, of course not" Provenza said back to him. "I am just telling you what I see, okay Flynn" Provenza added.

Andy stared back at him. "Okay, how bout this, the Captain has been through a lot with you over the past year or so. You keep scaring her with your health crisis and yesterday she had to watch as a gun was pointed to your head. Now, give her a break. Let FID handle Hudson, and you concentrate on the little things, like your family" Provenza said to Andy. "But first, you need to finish your paperwork, so if you are done here, can we get back to actually working?" Provenza finished as Andy watched him turn around and start walking towards the door.

Andy stood there for a second and then followed Provenza to the door. Provenza held the door open for Andy and Andy walked through heading down the stairs to the elevator. Andy pushed the button to call the elevator, and once the doors opened, both of them stepped inside returning to the ninth floor.

They walked back in to the Murder Room and Mike was still sitting at his desk but Julio and Amy weren't there. Provenza glanced towards Sharon's office and saw her still sitting there at her desk, working on something. Andy walked over to his desk and sat down. He took a minute but then started again on his paperwork. Provenza then walked to Sharon's office and knocked on her door. "Yes?" she said.

Provenza opened the door and walked over to her desk, and had a seat in front of her. "I think this case really took a toll on him" Provenza said to Sharon. "Did he talk with you?" Sharon said as she looked up at him, placing her pen down on her desk. "Yes, told me you two had a fight last night, among other things" Provenza said. "Not that it's any of my business, Captain" Provenza added and Sharon went back to the papers on her desk. "It's not Lieutenant, but you are his friend and he tells you things" Sharon said as she continued signing off on Julio's report.

"Are things okay between the two of you?" Provenza asked and Sharon looked back up at him. Sharon nodded her head. "Yes, they are" Sharon answered. "Okay, I'm done playing Dr. Phil so I'm going to go back to my desk" Provenza stated to her as he stood up and headed to the door. "Lieutenant, I heard your report is all finished, is that right?" Sharon asked him. "Almost finished, Captain, uh, I just have a few little things to add to it" Provenza said as he walked out of her office, closing the door behind him.

Sharon watched Provenza head over to his desk and then she looked over at Andy, who's back was to her as he sat at his desk. She hoped that their meeting with Sergeant Elliot this morning helped ease his mind, but she knew better than that. Sharon thought that once everyone got their paperwork done and handed in to her, they would have a nice, easy day and maybe get to leave a little early but now she had to attend some meeting with Chief Howard this afternoon. She didn't even know what the meeting entailed.

She decided to call Chief Howard on the phone and find out, but saw Chief Howard walk in to the Murder Room so she hung up the phone. She motioned for him to come in to her office and he did, closing the door behind him. "Chief, I was just calling you on the phone" Sharon said as he sat down. "I understand you requested my presence at a meeting this afternoon?" she continued. Chief Howard glanced over at Andy and then looked at Sharon. "Yes I did, Captain. By the way, how's he doing?" he asked her. "Lieutenant Flynn is fine, Chief" Sharon said to him.

Chief Howard nodded and knew that Sharon was protective of her people, especially Andy. "Okay, I'll cut to the chase here, the meeting this afternoon is with the Mayor of Los Angeles and the Chief of Police. They both wanted to meet with you and with Lieutenant Flynn" Chief Howard said to Sharon. "What for?" Sharon wondered.

"The Mayor heard about the latest case you were working on and he wanted to send his appreciation" Chief Howard said to her. Sharon took a deep breath. "There were other officers involved, surely he could visit them" Sharon said. "He knows that and he is visiting them today as well" Chief Howard said. Sharon paused. "This case almost cost me, my husband, Chief" Sharon said to him as she shook her head. "Nevertheless, the Mayor and Chief Pope both want to see you two so, can't disappoint them, especially the Mayor" Chief Howard said. "I expect you two at three o'clock in my office" he added as he stood up and walked out of Sharon's office.

Andy looked up and over at Sharon as he saw Chief Howard leaving her office. Sharon glanced over at him and their eyes met. She gave him a little smile and he returned it with his own smile. He then returned to his paperwork, almost finished with his report. Julio and Amy came back with lunch for everyone. "We ordered you what you normally would get, sir" Julio said to Provenza as he handed him his lunch. "Oh, well thank you Julio" Provenza said as he looked over what they ordered him.

Amy walked over to Andy's desk and handed him both his and Sharon's lunch. "The Captain ordered this for you, Lieutenant" Amy said and then walked away. Andy looked at what Sharon had ordered them. "Thanks" he said and then picked up the items in the bag and headed to Sharon's office.

"Lunch is here" Andy said as he entered her office. Sharon smiled at him. "I hope you don't mind what I ordered you but you were with Provenza when they left to grab lunch" Sharon said to him. "It looks fine Sharon" he said as he stood there. "Um, why don't we head to the break room and eat there" Andy suggested to Sharon. Sharon looked around her desk at the paperwork strung on top of it. "Good idea" she said as she stood up and walked around her desk. Andy and her then headed out of the office and towards the break room.

Once inside the break room, Andy placed the bag on one of the tables and went over to the fridge and removed two bottles of water from there. Sharon began to take the food out of the bag and placed it on the table. Andy then took a marker from the counter top and wrote on Sharon's water bottle, over the label 'Sharon' and drew a heart on it. He then walked back to the table and joined Sharon, handing her the bottle of water. Sharon looked at the label and smiled. Andy smiled back and they started to eat their lunch.

"What did Chief Howard want earlier?" Andy asked her as he took a bite of his sandwich. "He wanted to let me know that he's expecting both of us in his office at 3 o'clock for a meeting with the Mayor and Chief of Police Pope" Sharon said as she ate her grilled chicken salad. Andy nearly spit out the water he was drinking. "What?" he said coughing as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. Sharon looked at him concerned again but Andy waved her off. "I'm fine" he said to her. "Why does the Mayor and the Pope want to meet with us?" he said as he sat back in his chair. "According to Chief Howard, the Mayor wants to express his gratitude to us on this latest case" Sharon said to him. "But there were other officers involved" Andy said. "Right, and apparently he is meeting with them as well. We are his last stop today" Sharon said to him.

"Why wouldn't Sergeant Elliot tell us what other things they discovered with Hudson?" Andy asked her as they continued eating. "Because, that's confidential information Andy. FID can't just go around telling other officers why they are investigating someone else or what they found. Even if you are the victim in this" Sharon said to him. "I know, it's just I wish that bastard didn't get the best of me" Andy said to her. "I think I'm to blame for that Andy. If you and I weren't together then you wouldn't get the backlash of being married to the Wicked Witch of the West, Captain Poppins, Captain Rulebook and so on" Sharon said to Andy. "What? That's ridiculous Sharon. There's nothing I would change regarding you and me, except for maybe meeting you before you married Jack and then maybe things would have turned out differently for both of us" Andy said to her and Sharon looked down and then back up at him. "Sharon" he said as he grabbed her free hand. "I don't regret being with you, working with you, marrying you, raising Matthew with you" Andy said as he went on and on. "I could just punch Hudson for creating this" Andy muttered under his breath but Sharon heard him. "Then I would have to send you to anger management class and it would get all messy again with FID" Sharon said to him.

Andy sat back and looked over at Sharon, across from him. He had thought about what Provenza said to him when they were on the roof. 'Give Sharon a break and concentrate on the little things' he thought to himself. Sharon looked up at him from her salad and caught him staring at her which made her blush. He smiled at her and she gave him a smile as well. He would have to wait till after the meeting with the Mayor in order to show her how much he truly felt about her. For now he held her hand as they both finished their lunch.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 16

It was getting close to 3 o'clock, and Sharon was reading everyone's report, except for Andy who seemed to still be working on his. There was a knock on her door and then the door opened. Andy walked through and closed the door behind him. "Here you go, Captain" he said as he handed his report to her. "Good, I just need to sign off on the rest of these and we'll be all set" Sharon said to him and smiled.

Andy stood in her office for a second, watching Sharon work at her desk. He glanced at his watch and saw it was ten minutes to three. "Uh, Sharon?" Andy said to her. Sharon looked up at Andy. "We should start heading over to Chief Howard's office, don't want to make the Mayor wait" Andy said. Sharon glanced at her watch and saw the time. "Oh, yes we should!" she said as she stood up and walked over to where Andy was standing.

Sharon smoothed down Andy's tie and made sure he looked presentable. As she was doing this, Andy pulled her in for a brief hug and felt Sharon tremble. Sharon pulled back and Andy gave her a concerned look. "What is it?" Andy asked her. "Nothing" she said back to him. She walked over to the door and opened it. "Come on, let's go" she said back to him and then he followed her out. "Lieutenant, we will be at another meeting with Chief Howard" Sharon said to Provenza. Sharon looked around the room. "If we are not back before four, you can leave for the night" Sharon said to the team and then she left with Andy. "Will do, Captain" Provenza said.

They walked down the hall towards Chief Howard's office. "Why do we have to do this?" Andy said quietly to Sharon as the approached Chief Howard's door. Sharon looked at him and grabbed his left hand, and gently squeezed it. She then opened the glass door and nodded to his secretary. "They're waiting for you in his office" she said to them. "Thank you" Sharon said to her and they continued down the hall.

Chief Howard's door was open and Sharon and Andy walked through it. Sharon saw the Mayor standing by the windows on the phone with someone. Chief Pope walked over to them and shook their hands. "Captain, Lieutenant" he said to them. "Chief" Sharon said. "The Mayor will join us shortly, he's just finishing up that call" Chief Pope said as they waited. Andy did not want to be there and Sharon could tell as he was starting to fidget while they waited.

"Sorry about that Captain" Mayor Garcetti said to Sharon as he came over to where they were standing and shook her hand. "Sharon, it's good to see you" he said to her. "Nice to see you too, Mayor" Sharon said to him. Mayor Garcetti then shook Andy's hand. "Lieutenant, glad to see you're still here with us" he said to him. "Thank you" Andy said to him. "So, please have a seat" Mayor Garcetti said to them as he pointed to the seats around the conference table. Sharon and Andy sat down next to each other and the Mayor sat down as well. "I just wanted to thank you Captain for the tremendous efforts you and your team do on a daily basis here for the LAPD" Mayor Garcetti said. "Thank you, sir" Sharon said to him.

The Mayor and Chief of Police Pope had left after meeting with them for fifteen minutes. Chief Howard, Sharon, and Andy remained behind. "Well, that was painless, right?" Chief Howard said to both Andy and Sharon. "Yes" Sharon said to him. "Is there anything else you need us for?" Andy asked Chief Howard. "Yes, as a matter of fact, there is something to discuss. Detective Hudson" Chief Howard said to Andy and Sharon. "What about him?" Andy asked. "Well, for starters I don't like it when someone files a false police report, especially if it is against a Lieutenant I see over" Chief Howard said. Sharon looked at Chief Howard. "How do you know that, Chief?" Sharon asked him. "FID spoke with me this afternoon, before the Mayor came for his visit" Chief Howard said.

By the time Sharon and Andy left Chief Howard's conference room, it was past 4 o'clock. They walked back to the office. "How come Chief Howard knows about Hudson, more than we do?" Andy asked Sharon as they walked inside, him holding the door for her. "He oversees all of the divisions, Andy, FID informed him as a courtesy" Sharon said answering him. They walked in to an empty Murder Room. Everyone had left. Sharon walked to her office and Andy followed behind her. "Are we ready to leave, ourselves?" he asked her. "Yes, let me just put these away and I'm ready to go" she said as she gathered all of the reports on her desk.

Andy went over to his desk and logged off his computer. He then locked his drawers of his desk and met Sharon back in her office. He stood there waiting for her. She locked her drawer to her desk and grabbed her bag. "I'm ready" she said to him, grabbing his hand and they walked out of the office, in to the hallway and towards the elevators.

Andy was hoping that they didn't run into Hudson again as they left the building. That guy held a grudge against Sharon for suspending him and he didn't like Andy because he got Lieutenant over him back when both Andy and him applied for the rank. Andy had crossed him a couple of times when he worked in Robbery/Homicide. 'This is payback I guess' Andy thought to himself. He wanted a smooth exit with Sharon as they made their way down to the parking garage. They walked to their car, Andy holding the door open for Sharon and then went around the other side to get in.

They drove to pick Matthew up from school. Sharon went inside to pick him up while Andy stayed in the car. Valentine's day was a couple weeks away and he wanted to make sure he did something special for Sharon. Andy pulled out his phone and started looking up some ideas when Sharon and Matthew came back to the car. Matthew got inside and put his seatbelt on. "Hey kiddo, how was school?" Andy asked him as he turned around to look at him. "Fine" Matthew said in a pouty face as he sat there. Andy glanced over at Sharon, and she shook her head. Andy then drove over to pick Moxie up and then they drove home.

As they got home, Matthew ran inside the yard with Moxie while Sharon waited for Andy to get out of the car. As they walked up to the yard, Sharon told Andy what had happened. "So, he's having a tough time right now" Andy said to Sharon. "I think he's getting his stubbornness from you. Some reason it's rubbing off on him" Sharon said to Andy as they walked through the gate into the yard. "Did you ask him what's wrong?" Andy asked her as he opened the back door to the house. "I was hoping you would find out, while I make us dinner" Sharon said sweetly to him as she turned around and gave him a short kiss. "Sure" he said as he turned around and watched Matthew play with Moxie. He let out a sigh and walked over to where Matthew was.

"Hey Matthew, let's have a little talk" Andy said to Matthew as Matthew stopped running around the yard. He walked over to Andy, kicking the grass as he came up to him. Andy kneeled down so that he was at Matthew's level. "You want to tell me what's got you in such a mood?" Andy asked him. Matthew stood in front of him and didn't say anything. "You were happy this morning, were you not?" Andy asked him. "Yes" Matthew said in a pout. "So then what happened?" Andy asked. "I told Henry that I was getting adopted soon by you. And he made fun of me and told me that since you are my foster parents, that you felt oblig, obliga, obligated to adopt me because you have to" Matthew said to him. Andy looked at him and then looked at the grass and shook his head. "Matthew, you do know that Sharon and I love you, right?" Andy said to him and Matthew nodded. "You know that we would do anything for you" Andy said and Matthew nodded. "We want to adopt you, Matthew because we want you to be a part of our family. No one is forcing us to do so" Andy said to him. Matthew nodded and then Andy pulled him in for a hug.

Andy stood up and looked at Matthew. "Who is this Henry anyway?" he asked him as they walked towards the back door, Moxie following them. "He's in my class" Matthew said as he carried his backpack in the house. They walked in to the kitchen and Sharon was cooking dinner on the stove. "Go wash up, Matthew" Andy called out to him as Matthew made his way to the family room.

Andy then walked up behind Sharon and wrapped his arms around her. "Hmm, did you find out what was bothering him?" she asked him as she smiled. "Yes" he said as he nuzzled in to her neck and gave her a kiss there. "Some kid in his class told him we were only adopting him because we felt obligated to do so. I spoke to him and he's feeling better about it" Andy said to Sharon. Sharon turned around to face Andy. "Thank you" she said to him as kissed him and then turned around to attend to dinner.

Andy moved over to the kitchen sink and washed his hands. "I'm going to catch a meeting tonight, after we eat" Andy said to her as he was drying off his hands with a towel. "Okay" Sharon said as she turned the stove off and moved the pan over to another burner. Andy was getting the plates down and Matthew came back in the kitchen. "Here buddy, can you set the table for me?" Andy said to Matthew as he handed him the plates. Matthew then grabbed the plates and brought them over to the kitchen table.

The three of them sat down and ate dinner. As Andy was finished, he stood up to remove his plate when Rusty came through the back door. "Hi" Rusty said to them. "Hi Rusty" Sharon said. "Something smells good" Rusty said as he made his way in to the kitchen and sat down at the table. "Help yourself to whatever you want" Sharon said as she pointed to dinner on the table. Rusty got up and grabbed a plate and sat back down.

Andy walked over to them and gave Sharon a kiss on her cheek. "I'm going now, I'll be back in an hour or two" Andy said to Sharon. "Okay, be safe" Sharon said to him and then turned her attention to both Matthew and Rusty at the table. Moxie walked Andy to the back door, wagging his tail. Andy petted Moxie on his head. "I'll be back" he said to the dog and then closed the door behind him. Andy then got in his car and drove to a meeting in Silver Lake.

"Where's Andy going?" Rusty asked Sharon as he ate. "He's going to another AA meeting" Sharon said to him. Rusty glanced at Sharon. "Is he okay?" Rusty asked. "He's working through it but he's okay" Sharon reassured him. "So tell me how was school?" Sharon asked Rusty.

Once Andy arrived at the meeting, he found a seat close to the front of the room. Two minutes later, his sponsor came in and sat down next to him. "How are you doing?" he asked Andy. "I'm okay. Better than last night" Andy said to him. "If you want, after this meeting we can go somewhere and talk if you need to talk some more" he said to Andy. The meeting started.

Rusty left after an hour and went back to his little apartment, which allowed Sharon some one on one time with Matthew. He was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework as Sharon watched him, as she was finishing cleaning up the kitchen. She walked over to the table and had a seat. "So Matthew, what's that you are working on?" Sharon asked him. "Math problems" Matthew said to her as he continued to write down the answers on the paper. "I know Henry said something to you at school today about us adopting you" Sharon said to him and Matthew put his pencil down on the table. "Do you know how much Andy and I want you to be a part of our family?" Sharon asked him. Matthew looked up at her. "Yes" he said to her. "And no matter what someone else tells you, we love you" Sharon said to him. " I know" Matthew said as he sat there. "I know you are having a difficult time, it can get confusing sometimes, calling me Mom and Andy Dad, and you get frustrated because you feel like you are forgetting your real mom" Sharon started to say to Matthew. Matthew nodded to Sharon. "You can always talk to me or Andy, you know that right?" Sharon asked him. "Yes" Matthew said nodding his head. He then finished his homework. Sharon looked it over when he was done.

She glanced at the clock, thinking Andy should be coming home in a half hour as it was already getting close to nine. She checked her phone but there were no messages yet from him. Matthew was already upstairs, pajamas on, playing with his toys and Moxie in his room when Sharon came upstairs. She wanted to wait until Andy got home before she took a relaxing, bubble bath so she sat in Matthew's room with him.

Meanwhile, after the meeting ended, Andy and his sponsor walked out of the meeting and headed towards the parking lot when Andy and him were jumped by two assailants. Andy fought with his guy, punching him in the stomach and jaw a couple of times. Andy got hit in the face twice. Andy continued to punch him and he got punched as well. "I'm a cop" Andy said to the guy as he was pulled close to him. "I know" the guy said back to him and then gave him a sucker punch in the gut and Andy bent over. Andy recognized that voice. He heard it twice today. The two assailants then ran away as Andy's sponsor went over to him. "Are you okay?" he asked Andy as Andy was trying to catch his breath. "Yeah" Andy said as he stood upright and wiped the blood from his face with his hand. 'Sharon's not going to like this' he thought to himself. "Did they get you too?" Andy asked him. "No, the other guy pushed me out of the way and held me back" he said to Andy. "Look, I'll take you home" he said. "No, no, I'm fine. Really" Andy said to him as he walked him back to his car. "Then I'm going to follow you home, Andy" he said to him. "Put some ice on that when you get home" he said as Andy got in his car.

Andy sat in his car, head pounding and looked at himself in the mirror. Nope Sharon was not going to like this at all. He turned the light off and drove home. He waved to his sponsor who then drove past him and headed to his house. Andy pulled his car into the garage and once he exited the car, he looked for some paper towels or anything really to stop the bleeding from his lip. He walked in to the house and walked to the bathroom on the first floor. Sharon heard him come in so she came downstairs and found him in the bathroom as he left the door open. As she came closer to him, she saw the blood in the sink. "Andy?" she said to him as she entered the bathroom.

Andy glanced up at her and she saw his face. "Oh my god!" Sharon whispered. "Who did this to you?" she asked him as she took the towel from his hand and dabbed his lip with it. "I don't know for sure as the guy was wearing a mask, but I recognized the voice" he said to her. "When did this happen?" she asked. "As I left the meeting. I was walking back to my car with Dave, my sponsor, and two guys jumped us. I got a couple of good punches in on the guy and I told him I was a cop, he said he knew that already" Andy said to Sharon as she tended to his wounds. "What about Dave?" Sharon asked him. "The other guy held him back during the fight" Andy said. "So you were targeted?" Sharon said to him as she looked in his eyes. "Feels that way, yeah" Andy said. "Ouch!" he said as Sharon dabbed some hydrogen peroxide on his cut by his lip. "Sorry" she whispered to him. She then took his shirt off to see if there were any other wounds on his torso. She slowly moved her hands around his chest, checking to see if anything was painful enough. "Why didn't you tell me, call me after it happened?" Sharon said to him. "I didn't want you to worry, as you have been worrying an awful lot lately" Andy said to her.

"Did you notify anyone?" Sharon asked him as she placed the cap back on the bottle. "No" Andy said to her as he watched her clean up the mess he had made in the bathroom. "You were assaulted Andy" Sharon said to him as she looked at him. "Wouldn't be the first time" Andy mumbled under his breath. "Look, I just want to hold you in my arms and go to bed" Andy said to her as they moved out of the bathroom. "That's fine Andy, but first we notify someone" Sharon said to him as she held his hand and wrapped a bandage around it. Andy lowered his head in defeat. "Fine" he mumbled and Sharon pulled out her phone as they went to the kitchen so Andy could sit down.

He thought she was going to call Provenza but was surprised when she called Sergeant Elliot. "Captain Flynn, what can I do for you at this late hour?" Sergeant Elliot answered his phone. "Elliot, Andy was assaulted as he was leaving his meeting tonight" Sharon said to him. "Does he know who did this to him?" Elliot asked her. "He said the guy was wearing a mask but he recognized his voice" Sharon told him. "Can I speak with him?" Elliot asked her. Sharon held the phone up to Andy's ear. "Hello?" Andy said. "Lieutenant, I need to know if you can identify your attacker" Elliot asked him. Andy looked at Sharon and then closed his eyes. "Yes I can" Andy said to him. "Who is it Andy?" Sharon said at the same time as Sergeant Elliot. "Who is it Lieutenant?" Elliot said. "It was Hudson" Andy said as he looked at Sharon. "Are you absolutely sure?" Elliot asked him. "Yes, I recognized his voice" Andy said. "His hands should be all bloody as well and he should have some bruising on his face" Andy added. "Thank you, can you put the Captain back on the phone?" Elliot asked him. "He wants to talk to you" Andy said as he looked over at Sharon. Sharon placed the phone back at her ear. "Yes Sergeant?" Sharon said. "Did you clean him up already?" Elliot asked her. "Yes, but I can take pictures if you'd like me to" Sharon said to him. "Yes, please and send them to my phone. I'm going to file a report and tomorrow, we will address it" Elliot said to Sharon. "Thank you" Sharon said to him. "Take care" Elliot said as he hung up his phone.

Sharon took pictures of Andy's face and his bruises that were starting to form and sent them to Sergeant Elliot's phone. "I just want to hold you and go to sleep" Andy said to her as she moved around the kitchen. "And you can do that, you should ice that rib first Andy" Sharon said as she turned around and held an ice pack from the freezer. She wrapped it in a kitchen towel and gently placed it on Andy's side. Andy hissed as she placed it there. "Sorry" she whispered to him. She looked down at his face as he was looking up at hers. She shook her head. "How do you get yourself mixed up in all of this?" Sharon said to him. "Just lucky I guess" Andy said to her and she chuckled. "Well, stop doing that because there is only so much I can take" Sharon said to him as she held the ice pack to his side.

Ten minutes later, she removed the ice pack. The area where it was held had turned a little red. Sharon placed the ice pack back in the freezer and then walked over to Andy and helped him stand up. "I'm sorry" he said to her as they walked to the stairs to go up to the second floor. They walked up the stairs and headed to their bedroom. "He's already tucked in and sleeping" Sharon said when Andy looked at Matthew's door. Andy stepped in to their room and headed for the bathroom.

Sharon waited for him to come out of the bathroom and he did, wearing only pajama pants. "The shirt is too painful to put on" he said to her as he walked over to their bed. She laid down beside him and he moved his arm around her, hissing as he did. She settled in to his side. "I'm not hurting you, am I?" she asked him. "No, sweetheart" he said to her as he held her and drifted off to sleep. Sharon laid there thinking about everything.

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 17

The next morning, Andy woke up to gentle rubs on his chest from Sharon. He opened his eyes to see Sharon perched up on her elbow, looking at him. She smiled and he smiled back at her. "Sorry to wake you up so early but I was wondering if you wanted to take a nice, hot shower to soothe your muscles" Sharon said to him. He blinked a couple of times and tried to move but he was sore from the fight last night. "Ugh, what time is it?" he asked in a gruffly voice. "It's 5:15" Sharon whispered to him as she leaned down and kissed him, mindful of his cut on his lip.

Andy winced in pain he tried to get up with Sharon's help. "Easy" she said to him. She stood up and then helped him stand up, holding onto him as he steadied himself. He pulled her in for a hug and she laid her head on his bare chest. "Come on, let's get you in the shower" Sharon said to him as she walked with him towards the bathroom. Every muscle in his body ached as he made his way in to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror as Sharon turned on the shower, making sure the water was okay. He had a nice bruise forming again on his jaw and the bruise from the gun was now bigger. There was also a bruise starting to form on his right side. He looked like a wreck.

He turned around and stood there watching Sharon test the water, making sure it wasn't too hot that it scalded him. She turned around and saw him staring at her. She smiled and walked over to him, rubbing her hands up and down his arms. He closed his eyes as she did that. "Are you going to join me?" he whispered to her. "If you want me to" Sharon whispered back to him as she took his pajama pants off. She then helped him in to the shower stall and joined him after she undressed. He stood underneath the shower spray, letting the water pound his aching back as he held Sharon close to him. "I don't ever want to lose you, Sharon" he said as he held her. "You're not going to Andy" Sharon said to him as she closed her eyes and held onto him.

The water was starting to get cold as they both stood under the water, Andy gently kissing Sharon. Sharon turned around and shut the water off. She then slowly stepped out of the shower and Andy followed her. She wrapped a towel around him and then grabbed another towel but Andy took it out of her hands and wrapped her in the towel. His back was feeling a little better after the shower loosened it up and he walked out of the bathroom, towards their closet to pick out his suit to wear today.

The two of them got dressed and Sharon put Andy's tie on and tied it for him. She enjoyed doing that for him and always jumped at the chance whenever Andy would ask her. It was a special thing between them. She finished tying it and smoothed it down his blue dress shirt. He leaned down for a kiss and then left her in the bathroom so that she could finish getting dressed.

He glanced at his watch as he put it on, it was now 6:15 and they had to wake up Matthew soon. He placed his gun in his holster and clipped his badge on his belt along with his handcuffs and extra magazine holder. He then walked over to Matthew's room to wake him up, if he wasn't awake already. He opened the door and saw Matthew sitting up on his bed, reading a book. Moxie was laying on his bed, and wagged his tail as soon as Andy walked in.

The overhead light was already on as Andy came closer to Matthew. "Hey, buddy it's time to get dressed and ready for school" Andy said to him as Moxie jumped off the bed to greet Andy. Matthew looked up from his book and saw Andy's face and the bruising. "What happened to you?" Matthew asked as he went up to him. "Oh, I uh, got into a fight with someone last night" Andy said as he didn't want to lie to Matthew. "Another bad guy?" Matthew asked as he walked over to pick up his clothes for school. Andy took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes, another bad guy" he said as he and Matthew walked out of his room, with Moxie following Matthew in to the bathroom. "Get dressed and maybe I'll tell you the story, if Sharon allows me to" Andy said as he smiled and winked at Matthew.

Matthew got dressed and Andy went back in to their bedroom to see how Sharon was doing. She came out of their bathroom as he entered their room and as he looked at her closely, he could tell the she had been crying, as her eyes were red. He lowered his head. He hated knowing that she cried. He walked up to her as she put her suit jacket on. "I'm sorry" he whispered to her as he caressed her face with his hand. She looked back at him and shook her head. "This is not your fault" she said to him, barely above a whisper. "I'll make it up to you, I promise" he said to her as he leaned in and kissed her again.

They broke apart when she asked him where Matthew was. "He's getting dressed" he said to her. She waited for Matthew to get ready for school and then once he was dressed and came out of his bathroom, she took him downstairs. "How come Daddy got beat up again?" Matthew asked her as they made their way in to the kitchen. "He ran into a bad guy last night who doesn't like him" Sharon said to Matthew, trying to explain it as simple as possible. Matthew sat down at the kitchen table with his bowl and box of cereal. Sharon poured him milk and then he started to eat.

Moxie had waited for Andy to come downstairs and once they did, Andy took Moxie outside and then he fed Moxie breakfast. Sharon and Andy then each ate their bowls of cereal. They left their house on time and headed towards Matthew's school. Sharon asked Andy if he was able to drive and he said yes but she knew he was in a little pain as they drove over to the school. "You know, I can drive if you're in pain" Sharon said to him as they stopped at a light. Andy shook his head. "No I'm good" he said, lying because Sharon saw right through that. "You're so stubborn" she said back to him as he drove up to the school and pulled into the parking lot.

They dropped Matthew off and then drove over to the doggie day care to drop Moxie off. This time, Sharon got out of the car and took Moxie inside. When she came back she went over to the driver's side where Andy was sitting and told him to get out of the car. "I'm fine Sharon, honestly" he said as he grimaced. Sharon looked down at him. "Please, humor me" she said and he stepped out of the car and went around to the passenger side and got in. She sat down on the driver's side and looked over at him. He was now relaxing in the passenger seat. "See, isn't that better?" she said to him. He looked straight ahead and had to admit that he did feel better sitting there instead. "Yes" he muttered and Sharon just smiled as she pulled out of the parking lot and drove them to work.

They arrived at the PAB and headed upstairs to their office. Once again, Andy hoped that they didn't run into anyone as they got in the elevator and rode it up to their floor. The doors opened and they walked out and headed to the Murder Room. As they entered the office, the only person who was there was Provenza. He looked up from his desk as Sharon and Andy walked in and watched them both go to their desks. Andy sat down, easing into his chair, trying to avoid eye-contact with his friend. Provenza stood up and walked over to Andy. "What the hell happened to you?" Provenza asked him as he saw Andy's face. "It's being handled, don't worry" Andy said to him as he logged onto his computer. Provenza then saw Andy's hands. "Who'd you fight with?" Provenza asked as he glanced over at Sharon, sitting at her desk. Andy sighed. "I was jumped last night after leaving my AA meeting" Andy said to him. "Who did it?" Provenza asked. "It's being handled by FID okay" Andy said.

Provenza stood there as Julio and Mike entered the room. "FID, geeze Flynn was it another cop?!" Provenza said a little bit louder. Julio and Mike joined him at Andy's desk. Andy slouched back in his chair. "Hey what happened?" Julio asked Andy. "Oh geeze, see that's why I didn't want to say anything" Andy said to Provenza. Mike looked at Andy's face. "Holy crap Andy!" Mike said to him. "Flynn here won't tell me who did this to him, just that FID is handling it" Provenza said to them. "If FID is handling it, sir, then it must have been an inside job" Julio said. "Does the Captain know who did this?" Provenza asked Andy. Sharon then came out of her office before Andy could answer that, not that he wanted to answer anymore of Provenza's questions right now.

"Captain" Provenza said as she came out of her office. "Lieutenant, we appreciate your concern but like Andy said, it's being handled by FID right now" Sharon said to Provenza. Provenza looked at both Andy and Sharon and then came to a conclusion. "It was Hudson wasn't it?" Provenza said to them. Andy looked down at his desk. Sharon looked at Provenza and gave him a stern look. "Detective Hudson?" Julio said. "I don't get it, Captain. What is the big deal if we know?" Provenza asked Sharon. "Because Lieutenant, I don't want you guys retaliating because of what happened to Andy" Sharon said to Provenza, Mike, and Julio. "We wouldn't do that" Provenza said as he looked at Julio and Mike. Julio refused to look up and Mike just looked the other way. Provenza then looked at Sharon. "Okay Captain, we will let your friends at FID handle this" Provenza said to Sharon and then walked back to his desk.

Sharon's office phone rang and she turned around to enter her office. She walked over to her desk and answered it. "Captain Flynn" she said. "Captain it's Sergeant Elliot, I've filed the report on the assault of Lieutenant Flynn and with that, I believe we have enough evidence. Lieutenant Camacho and myself are going to head down to Robbery/Homicide in a few minutes, I was wondering if you and Lieutenant Flynn wanted to be there when we arrest Detective Hudson" Sergeant Elliot told Sharon over the phone. Sharon glanced over at Andy who was sitting at his desk. She thought about what Sergeant Elliot was saying to her. That they were going to go arrest Hudson in a couple of minutes. Everything was happening very fast. "Captain?" Sergeant Elliot said over the phone again. "Um, yes Sergeant I think we will meet you down there by the elevators" Sharon said and then she hung up.

Sharon took a deep breath, not realizing she had been holding her breath since Sergeant Elliot told her they were ready to arrest Detective Hudson. She walked out of her office towards Andy. She placed her hand at his shoulder and gently patted it. He turned around and looked at her. "Sergeant Elliot wanted to know if we wanted to be there when they arrest Detective Hudson in a few minutes" Sharon said to Andy so only he could hear her. Andy looked over to everyone else who was sitting at their desks now. "Okay, sure" Andy said to her and then he stood up and turned to her. "Let's go arrest the bastard" Andy whispered to Sharon.

"Um, where are you two off to?" Provenza asked them as they headed out the door. "Lieutenant, FID is going to be arresting Detective Hudson. We are going down there" Sharon said to Provenza. Provenza looked around at everyone else and then stood up. "We're going too" Provenza said to her and then Julio, Mike, and Amy stood up as well. Sharon looked around and was thankful for the loyalty her team had for not only her but each other. Sharon nodded and they all followed her and Andy out of the Murder Room and over to the elevators. "We'll stand back, in case you need us ma'am" Julio said to Sharon as the took the elevator to the fourth floor. "Thank you, everybody, we will let FID handle this, just be there as a back-up to them" Sharon said to her team as they exited the elevator.

Sharon, Andy, and the rest of the team exited the elevator and met Lieutenant Camacho and Sergeant Elliot right there. "Captain" Lieutenant Camacho said to Sharon as he shook her hand. "Lieutenant Flynn, sorry about a couple of days ago" Lieutenant Camacho said to Andy. Andy shook his head and then looked at Sergeant Elliot who was now speaking. "The Lieutenant and I are going to walk inside Robbery/Homicide's office, I've already contacted Captain Hayes and he is aware of what is going to happen" Sergeant Elliot stated to everyone. "My team will back you up in case you need it, Sergeant" Sharon said to Sergeant Elliot. He nodded at Sharon. "Are we sure Detective Hudson is in the office?" Julio asked. "Yes, Captain Hayes assured me that he is at his desk. He also assured me that his division will cooperate fully" Sergeant Elliot stated and then they proceeded to the office.

"Hey, Hudson, what the hell happened to you?" Detective Williamson said to Hudson as he passed his desk. "Got into a little fight last night" Hudson replied to Williamson as he looked up from his desk. "Is that so, Detective Hudson?" Sergeant Elliot said to him as he stood behind his chair. Hudson turned around and saw Lieutenant Camacho standing alongside Captain Hayes and then he saw Sharon and Andy next to them. Hudson smiled. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked. "Oh, I think you have a pretty good idea what's going on here" Sergeant Elliot said to Hudson. "I need you to stand up, slowly turn around, and place your arms above your head" Sergeant Elliot stated to Hudson. Hudson looked at Elliot and then he slowly stood up, with his arms at his side. "Turn around" Sergeant Elliot told him. Hudson hesitated as he looked over at Andy. Andy moved forward a little but Sharon grabbed his hand. Hudson then turned around and placed his hands above his head. Sergeant Elliot then removed Hudson's firearm and handed it to Lieutenant Camacho. Lieutenant Camacho then unloaded the firearm safely and placed it in an evidence bag. Sergeant Elliot then removed Hudson's handcuffs from his belt and removed everything from his pockets, while holding onto Hudson's hands which were now on top of his head. "Detective Hudson, you are under arrest for the assault on Lieutenant Flynn amongst other charges. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning" Sergeant Elliot said as he read Hudson his rights and placed him in handcuffs.

Sergeant Elliot then walked Hudson out the door, passing Andy and Sharon as they went. Hudson sneered at Andy and stopped. "Come on" Sergeant Elliot said to Hudson as he continued to walk out of the office. Sharon squeezed Andy's hand she was holding and they also walked out of the office back to their team. "Captain, Lieutenant, thank you" Lieutenant Camacho said to them as they exited to the hallway and led Hudson to the elevators. "We are going to take him upstairs to our office, question him there, and then book him" Lieutenant Camacho told Sharon as they waited for the elevator. "Let me know if you need anything" Sharon said to him. "I could use one of your people to help bring him up to our office" Lieutenant Camacho said to her. Julio overheard them talking and stepped forward. "I can do that ma'am" Julio said to Sharon. Sharon looked at Julio and nodded. Julio then walked in the elevator with Sergeant Elliot and Hudson. "Oh, and if you want to watch the interview, you may Captain" Lieutenant Camacho added before stepping on the elevator as well and the doors closed.

Sharon looked over at Andy, Provenza, Amy, and Mike and she took a deep breath, clearing her throat. "Lieutenant, I think myself and Lieutenant Flynn are going to want to watch this interview in FID. If you could hold down the fort in our office for a while" Sharon said to Provenza. "Of course Captain" Provenza said as he nodded to Sharon. "Thank you" Sharon said as they all stepped onto the next elevator. Andy pressed the button for both the seventh and ninth floors as the doors closed. The elevator stopped at the seventh floor and both he and Sharon stepped out. "We shouldn't be long here" Sharon said to them and then walked over to the entrance.

Andy stopped Sharon before they entered FID's office. "You were right" Andy said to Sharon as he glanced at her, his hand on the handle of the door. Sharon looked at him and then Andy opened the door to FID and they walked inside. They saw Julio standing in front of one of the interview rooms there and walked over to him. "He's inside, asked to call a lawyer, so we are currently waiting on that ma'am" Julio said to Sharon as they joined him. Sharon nodded and then walked over to where Sergeant Elliot was standing. Julio turned to Andy. "Looks like you were able to get a few good punches in yourself, sir" Julio said to Andy. "Thanks" Andy said as he glanced over at Sharon.

"He called his lawyer, should be here shortly. In the meantime, I think I should fill you in on what else I discovered on him" Sergeant Elliot said to Sharon as he handed her one of his reports. As she was reading it, she came across a familiar word. She glanced back up at Sergeant Elliot and then looked over at where Andy was standing with Julio. Andy walked over to join Sharon. "What is it?" Andy asked her. She glanced at Sergeant Elliot who nodded in agreement and then Sharon showed Andy what she had read. Andy looked at the report and then glanced back up at Sharon. "D'Angelo, really?" Andy said to her and Sergeant Elliot.

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** I was going to end it at the last chapter but I decided to not end with such a cliffhanger as that! Thank you everyone for the great comments and reviews for this story. I really appreciate it and it keeps me writing as well. So without further delay, here is the last chapter of this story…

Chapter 18

Sharon, Andy, and Julio stood with Sergeant Elliot outside of the interview room. "How does Detective Hudson know Ricky D'Angelo?" Sharon asked them. "We're not sure, Captain, but we have the visitor log for the federal correctional facility where D'Angelo is currently being held and he's visited him there a couple of times" Sergeant Elliot stated as he showed Sharon the copy of the log book. "Is he that stupid to write his own name down?" Andy said as he pointed to Detective Hudson's name. Sharon shook her head.

Andy looked over at the door just as Linda Rothman walked in. "Oh geeze" he said, rolling his eyes, as she walked over to them. "Captain, aren't you a little lost being here?" Linda Rothman said to Sharon. Sharon looked at her as she came up to them. "Surely this is not your jurisdiction anymore, am I right?" Linda Rothman said to Sharon as she glanced over at Sergeant Elliot. "Linda, when it's a crime against one of my team members, it is my jurisdiction" Sharon said to her and Linda Rothman just smiled back. "Who just happens to be your husband" Linda Rothman stated and then glanced at Andy. Andy stood there with his arms folded against his chest.

"Anyway, can you show me where my client is?" Linda Rothman said to Sergeant Elliot. Sergeant Elliot moved forward. "Right this way" he said to her as he led her to the interview room. "Well, he's got the right lawyer if he does know D'Angelo" Julio said as he turned to look at Sharon and Andy. Andy glanced at Sharon but didn't say a word. "I'm going to head back upstairs ma'am if they don't need me anymore" Julio said to Sharon. "Thank you" Sharon said to him and he left the office.

Sharon then turned to face Andy who was still standing with his arms folded across his chest. "A crime against one of your team members, really Sharon?" Andy said to Sharon as he glared at her. "You know that's not what I meant, Andy" Sharon said to him. Andy lowered his head down and looked at the floor. He took a deep breath and let it out. "I know, I'm sorry" he said to her as he reached for her hand and gently squeezed it, looking back up at her.

"We're going to start, Captain" Sergeant Elliot said to Sharon as he came back to where they were standing. Then Sergeant Elliot waited for Lieutenant Camacho to come out of his office and then the two of them walked back towards the interview room. "Ready?" Sharon said to Andy as she looked at him. "Ready" Andy replied as Sharon led him to the viewing room.

Sharon and Andy stood in the viewing room and they were able to oversee the interview of Detective Hudson. Andy stood there looking at Hudson through the glass mirror as Hudson listened to what Sergeant Elliot was saying.

"So, Detective Hudson, would you like to explain why you filed a false FID report against Lieutenant Flynn?" Sergeant Elliot said to him. Hudson looked at his lawyer. "Tell them the truth, just like we spoke about earlier" Linda Rothman stated. "I saw the Lieutenant's business card on the victim's body so I thought I should notify someone" Hudson stated. "Why didn't you call the Lieutenant directly?" Elliot asked him. "I don't have his number" Hudson said as he sat back in his chair. "His number was on the business card that you saw" Elliot stated. "I didn't want to participate in a possible cover up, if the Lieutenant was involved somehow with that victim" Hudson stated.

"He's lying Sharon" Andy said to her as she watched the interview. "I know, but what's he lying about and how does D'Angelo play into this part?" Sharon asked as she grabbed a hold of Andy's hand. She could feel the tension from him and she rubbed her thumb over the top of his hand she was holding to help him relax.

"Why did you visit a known federal criminal last week and a couple of days ago?" Elliot asked Hudson. "I'm sorry Sergeant but what exactly are you getting at here?" Linda Rothman interjected. "Detective Hudson visited Ricky D'Angelo in federal jail several times. We would like to know why he visited him there" Elliot stated back to Linda Rothman and Hudson. Hudson looked straight at Elliot and didn't answer. "You do understand that we are bringing you up on several charges of unbecoming an officer, plus an assault charge, which basically finishes your career here with the LAPD" Lieutenant Camacho stated to Hudson.

Andy and Sharon both looked on the interview with anticipation. "He's not going to give anything up" Andy said to her. "He's too smug in his ways to do that" he added. "Linda is going to want to make a deal here, so let's see how it plays out" Sharon said to Andy as they continued to watch the interview.

Linda Rothman spoke to Hudson quietly before Hudson sat back and Linda turned around to face both Sergeant Elliot and Lieutenant Camacho. "Before my client says anything, I'd like the assault charges dropped" Linda Rothman said to them. "No!" Andy said louder than he anticipated and Sharon looked at him. "Um, no I don't think that's going to happen, Ms. Rothman" Elliot said to her. "Hmm, okay then let's make another deal" Linda Rothman said to them. "My client gives you information, and in return he does not get fired from his job with the LAPD" Linda Rothman stated.

"This is ridiculous Sharon, Hudson's going to walk out of here without a scratch!" Andy said to Sharon as he started to fidget where he was standing. "Andy" Sharon said to him as she touched his arm. Andy instantly calmed himself down as he looked over at Sharon. "Ms. Rothman, we're not new at this. The charges are not negotiable. As for the punishment, that would have to go before the disciplinary board and we don't have a say in that process" Lieutenant Camacho stated to her. "Very well" Linda Rothman said as she glanced at Hudson. "Tell them everything, it's in your best interest here" Linda Rothman said to Hudson. Hudson glanced back at her and then turned his attention to Sergeant Elliot and Lieutenant Camacho.

"Ricky D'Angelo and I were friends growing up. He went one way and I grew up and went the complete opposite. About two weeks ago, he had asked me what was up with a Captain in the Major Crimes division. I knew exactly who he was talking about after dealing with the Captain when she was in charge of you guys" Hudson said as Sharon watched. Andy glanced at her as her mouth opened slightly. He had felt bad for his outburst earlier, and all he could think of doing was to hold onto her hand while they listened to Hudson.

"So, I told him that I had problems with her a few years back as she suspended me, and ever since then I was passed up for promotions within the LAPD. He told me not to worry, that she was going to get what was coming to her, but then the Major Crimes division along with the FBI arrested D'Angelo and that was the end of that course" Hudson said. Andy glanced at Sharon again, her face showed shock on it. "Sharon?" Andy said to her, which broke her concentration from the interview. She glanced back at him.

"I was sitting in the court room when D'Angelo's trial took place that first day and D'Angelo turned around and nodded to me. I left the court room and went to back to work. The next morning, I went to go see him before his court appearance, and he asked me if I could somehow get revenge for him. I told him that I didn't know how I could do that" Hudson said to them. "That son of a bitch" Andy muttered under his breath as he continued to watch Sharon. They never knew that she was the target of D'Angelo. That since she was running the investigation along with the FBI, D'Angelo wanted her.

"Thursday night when I responded to that call about the dead girl in the park, I saw Flynn's business card laying on the victim and I decided to possibly get revenge that way, by going after him instead" Hudson said and then shifted in his chair. "I didn't know that some psychopath was already getting his revenge on the Lieutenant instead" Hudson added. Elliot and Camacho glanced at each other before Hudson continued. "When I saw Flynn at the range yesterday morning, I thought, bam! perfect opportunity to just get in some jabs about the Captain and him" Hudson said as he laughed a little bit.

Sharon and Andy continued to watch the interview, mindful that they weren't the only ones standing in the viewing room. All Andy wanted to do was pull Sharon, hugging her and never letting her go but they had to be professional here, especially in her old stomping grounds. Sharon glanced over at Andy when Hudson started talking about the jabs at the range.

"Why did you assault Lieutenant Flynn?" Elliot asked Hudson. "I had visited D'Angelo yesterday afternoon and he wanted proof of a revenge against the Captain. I couldn't do anything to her while she was with their kid so I waited until Flynn left for his meeting, and followed him there. Then one of D'Angelo's men and I waited for Flynn. He walked out with someone so we jumped both of them, I took care of Flynn while Marco handled the guy Flynn was with" Hudson said to Elliot. "I knew Marco would get word to D'Angelo about the beating" Hudson added as he sat back in his chair.

Sharon looked over at Andy who'd been watching her this whole time. "You were beat up because of me" Sharon said in a whisper to Andy. "Nonsense" Andy said as he shook his head not agreeing with her assumption. He glanced over at the other officer in the room and nodded with his head towards the door. The officer left the room, leaving just Sharon and Andy in it. "Hey, listen to me" Andy said as he moved Sharon closer to him and lifted her chin so she could look at Andy. "You had nothing to do with any of this Sharon, not with Johnny, D'Angelo, and definitely not with Hudson here" Andy said to her. She took a deep breath, not making eye contact with Andy. He moved his head so that he was in her eye sight and gave her a slight smile.

"Now, what is it you were telling Matthew the other day about getting the bad guys?" Andy asked her as he held her in the room. "That we catch and put the bad guys away to make the city safe" Sharon said. "Well actually you said and I quote 'Mommy and Daddy get the bad guys, and put them away to make the city safe'" Andy said back to her and she smiled. "He asked me the other night if it was alright to still call me Mommy" Sharon said to Andy as she looked at his eyes. Andy's eyes held everything in them. What he was feeling, his past, his hopes and his dreams. She smiled at him. "When was this?" Andy said as he wondered. "The night of our fight" Sharon said. "Oh, yeah, I didn't like arguing with you Sharon and I know I still need to make it up to you" Andy said to her. Sharon shook her head. "You more than made up for it, Andy" Sharon said as she pulled him in for a kiss. "Captain, I don't think we should be kissing in this room" Andy said, smiling as they pulled apart. "Why not? It wouldn't have been the first time we kissed in here" Sharon said as she grinned a big smile.

Just then they were interrupted by the movement of chairs in the interview room. The interview appeared to be over and Sergeant Elliot was taking Hudson down for booking on the assault charge. Another officer went with Sergeant Elliot. Linda Rothman followed them. Sharon and Andy walked out of the viewing room and waited for Lieutenant Camacho to come out of the interview room. "Lieutenant, I guess we are done here. Thank you" Sharon said to Lieutenant Camacho as she shook his hand. "Captain, take care" he said back to her. He also shook Andy's hand as he was heading towards his office.

Sharon and Andy walked out of FID holding hands and waited for the elevator to come so that they could return to the ninth floor. "I'm glad this case and everything associated with it is over" Sharon said to Andy as they stepped inside the elevator. "Me too. I'm hoping we don't catch another case for at least the next week or so. I could use the break to recover" Andy said to Sharon as the elevator dinged alerting them that they were at the ninth floor.

Sharon and Andy walked back in to the Murder Room and finished the reports off to finish the day, without getting a call out.

The work day was over and everyone from the team left the office. Andy walked over to Sharon's office where she was on the phone with someone. He waited by the door, trying not to listen to the phone conversation. "Oh, that's great sweetie, Good Luck at tonight's performance. Love you" Sharon said as she hung up the phone. She glanced over at Andy. "I take it that was Emily" Andy said as he sat down on one of the chairs. "Yes, she is backstage already in her dressing room getting ready for tonight's performance" Sharon said as she gathered her papers on her desk. Andy watched her. "Ready?" she asked him as she placed the papers in her bag and stood up. "Yes ma'am" Andy said to Sharon as he stood up and met her when she walked around her desk. They exited the office together and then drove to pick up Matthew and Moxie before finally heading home.

The End


End file.
